^iiiBRARYQr     ^immor^ 


m 


I' 


ea 

za 


^"^(WnVJJO^        "%13DNVS0# 


i 


1; 

1 


^v  in**  cp      ^ 

o 


'■'^imuy^w 


'^ojm 


S3        f*-   U 


^(?AM 


o 


IIFOR^     ^OfCAllFOMj^ 


^(/Ad^^aaiH^ 


5  i 


-JC^i  % 


'mim-i^'^     "^(aoiiivj-jo^'      <j^33nvsoi^ 


<^133KVS01^ 


■Tj 


AMEUNIVERJ/a       a3 


RA.ffYi^r 


1^ 


ml 


-^•lIBRAffY^/. 

(-9 

si  cr 


^OFCAllFOff^ 


,.^EUN1VER%. 


^J^QNYSm^ 


^5X\EUNIVER% 


^lOSANCflfj^ 


"^saaAiNn-jvfc?     ^^ojitydjo'^    ^ 


-^iUBRARY^A,       #IIBRARYQ^  ^5S\fUNIVER%       ^ 

^iir-#  §iirr^   £^o<r^  ^ 


^0FCAIIF0%       ^0FCAIIF0%. 


-a 


'^omm\w 


^iiiAiNa-iW> 


t 


# 


"-^^OillVJ-JO^ 


=3 


3% 


^ 


''^ommi'^     '  ^^Aavaani^^^ 


^^ilW'SOl^ 


«^1^EUNIVER% 


Hi     iurri 


i^ 


^jJuDNvsoi^^^    "^/iaiAiNn-av^^      ^H^ixm-i^    %)jmojo'^ 


i' 


CO 


^oFCAiiFOff^    ^vmm^ 


;^      ^ 


5w  ""^ 


.^'^ 


JLNHKHOVNVIM 
SmVS   DIdlXNHIDS 


SCIENTIFIC   SALES 
MANAGEMENT 

A   PRACTICAL   APPLICATION 

OF   THE   PRINCIPLES    OF   SCIENTIFIC 

MANAGEMENT   TO   SELLING 


BY 

CHARLES  WILSON  HOYT 


'Dispatch  is  the  Soul  of  Business" 


NEW  HAVEN,  CONN. 

GEORGE    B.    WOOLSON&CO. 

1913 


COPYRIGHT,     I912 
GEORGE    B.     WOOLSON    &    CO. 


COPYRIGHT     IN    ENGLAND 
ALL    RIGHTS    RESERVED 


THE  -PLIMPTON  •PRESS 

[  W  •  D  -o] 
NOP.  WOOD'MASS'U'S'A 


S-^'b'i 


IET  us  draw  a  lesson  from  Nature,  which 
always  works  by  short  ways.  When 
the  fruit  is  ripe  it  falls.  When  the 
fruit  is  dispatched  the  leaf  falls.  The 
circuit  of  the  waters  is  mere  falling.  The 
walking  of  man  and  all  animals  is  a  falling 
forward.  All  our  niamial  labor  and  works 
of  strength,  as  prying,  splitting,  digging, 
rowing,  and  so  forth,  are  done  by  dint  of 
continual  falling;  and  the  globe,  earth,  moon, 
comet,  sun,  star,  fall  forever  and  ever. 

—  RALPH    WALDO    EMERSON 


419470 


AN    APPRECIATION 

By  HIRAM  PERCY  MAXIM 

O  OME  few  days  ago  when  Mr.  Hoy t  told  me  that 
he  had  written  a  book  on  Scientific  Sales  Manage- 
ment, I  congratulated  him.  At  the  same  time,  I 
said  that  those  who  had  occasion  to  spend  money 
m  sales  work,  were  to  be  congratulated  also. 

During  the  years  I  have  known  Mr.  Hoyt,  I  have 
more  and  more  admired  his  work.  Our  first  meet- 
ing was  purely  on  a  business  basis,  but  he  quickly 
made  our  connections  stronger  by  the  excellence  of 
his  methods. 

In  his  experience  Mr.  Hoyt  has  had  a  most  happy 
combination  which  has  made  him  the  really  big 
advertising  and  sales  director  that  he  is. 

First,  he  was  given  the  benefit  of  a  scientific  engi- 
neering training  at  a  great  university  (Yale,  1894, 
S.S.S.).  That  probably  made  him  the  accurate, 
keen  analyst  that  he  is.  He  analyzes,  reasons,  and 
deduces  in  a  clear-cut  way.  His  mathematical 
training  has  made  him  exact. 

Then  he  did  what  seems  strange  for  a  university- 
trained  man  —  what  really  made  him  the  power 
that  he  is.     He  went  from  the  University  out  on 


viii  AN  APPRECIATION 

the  road  as  a  traveling  salesman.  It  was  no  ele- 
mentary short  cut  that  he  took.  From  1894  until 
1909  —  fifteen  years — he  worked  in  a  practical  way 
on  every  phase  of  selling  and,  in  the  later  years,  on 
advertising  also. 

So  in  1909  he  merely  broadened  his  field  when 
he  engaged  in  business  as  a  consulting  sales  and 
advertising  manager.  As  a  preliminary  training 
he  had  worked  as  a  travehng  salesman  two  years 
before  entering  college  and  then  fifteen  years  after 
graduating. 

Two  years  ago  he  came  to  me  to  help  in  mar- 
keting the  Maxim  Gun  Silencer.  Never  have  I 
seen  him  reach  a  wrong  conclusion.  Never  has  he 
offered  advice  that  was  not  good.  From  his  rich 
fund  of  experience  he  has  helped  me  solve  problems 
which  I,  with  my  own  training  and  experience,  could 
not  have  solved  without  costly  experimenting. 

I  am  glad  of  the  opportunity  to  write  these  few 
words  which  may  induce  the  man  who  employs  or 
directs  salesmen  to  read  Mr.  Hoyt's  book.  The 
reader  of  this  book  has  an  opportunity  to  see  in 
part  and  to  profit  by  the  accumulated  results  of 
twenty  years  of  sales  and  advertising  experience. 
You  lose  the  benefit  of  the  personal  contact  which 
I  have  enjoyed,  but  you  will  be  well  repaid  by  a 
perusal  of  the  book. 

October  15th,  igi2. 


CONTENTS 


I 

II 
III 

IV 


VI 

VII 

VIII 

IX 

X 

XI 

XII 
XIII 
XIV 

XV 

XVI 

XVII 

XVIII 

XIX 

XX 

XXI 
XXII 

XXIII 


PAGE 

Two  Kinds  of  Salesmen  —  the  Old  and  the  New  3 

The  Principles  of  Scientific  Management     .       .  9 

What  is  Scientific  Sales  Management  ?   .      .      .  23 
Co-operating   with   the    Salesman    Covering    the 

Territory  for  the  First  Time 31 

Co-OPERATnsrG  with   Salesmen  Covering  Territory 

Regularly 43 

Spending  One  Dollar  on  a  Prospect  ....  51 

Meeting  the  Objections  to  Mail  Pieces  ...  57 
The    Function    of    Salesmen    in    an    Advertising 

Campaign 65 

How  to  Secure  the  Salesmen's  Co-operation  in  an 

Advertising  Campaign 75 

Councils,  Meetings,  and  Conventions  for  Salesmen  89 
Illustrations   of   Actual  Meetings   and    Conven- 
tions      95 

So-Called  Ginger  Talks 103 

Contests  for  Salesmen 115 

Contests  for  Salesmen  on  a  Quota  Basis     .      .  125 
Judging   and    Stimulating  Salesmen    by    Percent- 
age of  Distpjbution 131 

HmiNG  Salesmen 139 

How  to  Conduct  a  Trade  Promotion  Department  149 

The  Salesman's  Expense  Account 157 

Standardizing  the  Salesman's  Arguments  or  Sales 

Talks 165 

The  Comparative  Feature  in  Sales   Management  179 

A  Campaign  Featuring  the  Manager  or  Salesman  185 
Applying  Scientific  Sales  Management  to  a  Retail 

Business 191 

Handling  the   United   States   by  Territories    or 
Zones ,  199 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

With  Scientific  Sales  Management  the  manager  secures  results 

from  average  salesmen facing  3 

A  mail  piece  which  has  been  used  with  good  results,  ....  35 

A  mail  piece  which  was  read  even  in  busy  New  York  ...  40 
These  are  salesmen's  co-operative  pieces  which  closed  the  sales 

when  even  the  proprietor  forgot  to  tell  his  story  ....  45 
The  folder  that  brought  five  per  cent  of  inquiries  from  a  list  of 

twelve  hundred  department  stores 52 

Examples  of  mail  pieces  which  have  secured  results  ....  62 
Sales   bulletin   with   two   tables   showing    percentage  of   quotas 

sold 126 

Illustrations  of  house  organs  issued  by  retail  merchants  .      .      .  195 


Two  Kinds  of  Salesmen — The 
Old  and  the  New 


SCIENTIFIC  SALES 

MANAGEMENT 


Chapter  I 

T'wo  Kinds  of  Salesmen — "The 
Old  and  the  New 

TODAY  there  are  two  kinds  of  salesmen.  About 
twenty-five  years  ago,  except  in  rare  cases,  there 
was  only  one  kind.  The  old  sort  is  rapidly  de- 
creasing in  number,  but  it  is  still  the  larger. 

It  is  not  always  the  choice  of  the  salesman  to  be  in 
this  old  or  first  class.  Often  it  is  because  the  house  for 
which  he  works  shows  no  inclination  to  co-operate  with 
him  and  he  is  obUged  to  work  entirely  for  himself.  Such 
a  salesman  stands  ready  to  go  into  the  new  class,  but  his 
house  is  not  ready. 

The  old  kuid  of  salesman  is  the  "big  me"  species.  He 
is  the  "little  you"  (meaning  the  house)  sort.  He  works 
for  himself  and,  so  far  as  possible,  according  to  his  own 
ideas.  He  resents  anything  coming  from  the  house  except 
checks  for  salary  and  expenses.  The  house  may  tell  him 
what  territory  to  cover,  even  to  the  extent  of  naming  the 
town.  In  many  cases,  however,  the  "big"  salesman  only 
permits  the  house  to  name  the  States  or  counties  which  he 
is  to  cover.     In  other  words,  they  assign  him  a  territory. 


4  SCIKXriFIC   SALKS   MANAGEMENT 

Ho  lias  liis  own  customers.  Mind  you,  I  speak  with 
wisdom  when  I  say  they  are  liis  customers.  At  any  rate, 
he  considers  them  as  such.  If  a  newly  appointed  sales 
nianafier  attempts  to  tell  him  of  some  firms  on  whom  he 
must  call,  he  is  "peeved."  Sometimes  it  is  his  practise  to 
suggest  that  the  sales  manager  better  come  out  and  do  it, 
while  he  (the  "big"  salesman)  will  take  his  customers  with 
him  to  another  house. 

Yes,  the  old  t>i)e  of  salesman  is  a  big  man.  Unfor- 
tunately for  commerce  in  general,  he  has  his  own  way  in 
many  cases.  Many  jobbers  and  manufacturers  are  really 
afraid  of  him  and  do  not  interfere.  Many  such  manufac- 
turers spend  hours  and  hours,  and  much  money,  reducing 
the  "cost-to-make,"  while  they  permit  the  " cost-to-sell " 
to  rest  in  the  palm  of  the  inefficient  old  tyY)e  of  salesman. 

They  are  strong  for  Scientific  Management  in  the  shop 
and  in  the  office,  but  in  the  sales  force  —  "  Well,  you  see 
we  do  not  care  to  oppose  Jones,  who  has  traveled  for  us  for 
forty  years.  He  has  a  strong  trade — they  all  like  him  and, 
if  he  left  us,  he  would  take  all  of  his  customers  to  our  big 
competitor." 

"Besides,"  they  say,  "Jones  really  makes  us  a  lot  of 
money.  We  might  try  it  on  our  new  men,  but  never  on 
Jones." 

Somebody  said  that  it  cost  more  to  sell  the  goods  of 
America  than  it  does  to  make  them.  But  we  are  rapidly 
learning  in  this  country  how  to  reduce  the  cost  to  sell  our 
goods.  We  are  not  doing  this  by  hiring  lower-cost  sales- 
men or  less  of  them,  but  by  distributing  much  larger 
quantities  of  goods  with  less  lost  motion. 

Fortunately  there  is  another  type  of  salesman.  He  is 
the  new  kind.  At  present  he  is  in  the  minority,  but  he 
works  for  the  fastest  growing  and  most  successful  houses 
of  the  day.      He  works  for  the  house  and  the  house  works 


TWO   KINDS   OF  SALESMEN  5 

for  him.  He  welcomes  and  uses  every  bit  of  help  the  house 
sends  him.  He  believes  that  he  should  be  a  closer  and  not 
a  missionary.  He  expects  the  house  to  keep  itself  and  its 
product  constantly  in  the  minds  of  his  trade.  He  doesn't 
consider  that  in  so  doing  they  are  robbing  him  of  any 
prestige  or  glory. 

In  the  Manual  put  out  by  the  National  Cash  Register 
Company  the  salesman  is  told  to  keep  himself  in  the  back- 
ground and  the  registers  in  the  front.  In  one  part  of  this 
book  it  says:  "Do  not  intrude  your  personality  on  the 
notice  of  the  prospect,  but  try  to  make  him  forget  you  and 
become  absorbed  in  studying  the  Registers.  To  do  this 
you  must  forget  yourself." 

The  territory  by  cities,  towTis,and  by  individual  customers 
and  prospects  is  laid  out  for  him.  He  expects  it,  and  he 
co-operates  with  those  who  do  the  planning  at  headquarters 
so  as  to  make  the  results  of  this  work  better  and  more 
efficient.  He  considers  the  sales  manager  his  best  friend 
and  greatest  helper. 

Let  me  repeat  again  my  definition  of  the  new  type  of 
salesman.  He  is  the  sort  who  works  for  a  house  which 
works  intelligently  for  him. 

The  sales  manager  may  well  ask  himself  which  type  of 
salesman  is  in  his  employ.  If  it  is  the  first  sort,  he  should 
ask  himself  whether  it  is  the  fault  of  the  salesmen  or  the 
sales  manager. 


"The  Principles  of  Scientific 
Management 


chapter  II 

"The  Principles  of  Scientific 
Management 

MUCH  has  already  been  said  and  printed  on  Scien- 
tific Management.  To  some,  a  chapter  in  this 
book  on  the  subject  may  seem  unnecessary.  It 
is  introduced,  however,  to  bring  to  the  attention  of  those 
who  have  not  looked  into  tlie  matter  a  few  of  the  principles 
and  the  results  of  this  remarkable  subject. 

Many  excellent  books  have  been  printed  on  it,  and  if 
the  reader  is  interested  in  Scientific  Management  at  all,  he 
will  make  no  mistake  if  he  reads  some  of  them.  One  of  the 
best  is  Mr.  F.  W.  Taylor's  book,  "  The  Principles  of  Scientific 
Management,"  published  by  Harper  &  Brothers.  I  am  in- 
debted to  that  book  in  part  for  the  facts  given  in  this  chapter. 

It  has  been  apparent  for  a  long  time  that  enormous  losses 
occur  in  this  coimtry  due  to  the  inefficiency  in  the  daily 
acts  of  its  people.  How  to  correct  part  of  this  waste  has 
been  the  work  of  the  advocates  of  Scientific  Management. 
The  remedy  lies  in  the  correct  sort  of  management  and  not 
in  searching  for  unusual  or  extraordinary  leaders. 

The  successful  users  of  Scientific  Management  have 
pointed  out  and  proved  that  the  correct  sort  of  management 
is  a  true  science  which  rests  upon  clearly  defined  laws,  rules, 
and  principles. 

If  you  desire,  you  can  be  shown  and  told  of  scores  of 
successful  concerns  who  have  abandoned  traditional  methods 


lo  Sril'MlllC    SALKS   MANAGEMENT 

of  nianagonient  because  tliey  have  found  that  it  has  paid 
to  do  so.  Vou  can  hear  of  concerns  which  a  few  years  ago 
were  running  behind  year  after  year,  but  today  are  carry- 
ing on  businesses  that  are  highly  profitable.  These  are 
easily  proved  facts. 

Every  body  of  men  engaged  in  a  common  task  requires  a 
manager.  It  is  true  of  a  factory,  a  market,  a  store,  a 
football  team,  or  a  college  faculty.  The  followers  of  Scien- 
tific Management  see  two  kinds  of  management  only; 
namely,  the  old  and  the  new.  Others  classify  all  types 
of  management  under  three  heads;  namely,  Unsystem.atized 
Management,  Systematized  Management,  and  Scientific 
Management. 

But  what,  after  all,  is  the  real  object  of  management? 
Why  have  it  at  all?  ]\Ir.  Taylor  says  that  the  principal 
object  of  management  should  be  to  secure  the  maximum 
prosperity  for  each  employer,  coupled  with  the  maximum 
prosperity  for  each  employee.  This  means  for  the  owner 
not  only  large  dividends, but  the  development  of  the  business 
to  such  a  state  of  excellence  that  the  prosperity  may  be 
permanent.  It  means  for  the  employee  hot  only  higher 
wages  than  are  usually  received  by  men  in  his  class,  but  it 
also  means  the  de\'elopment  of  each  man  to  the  state  of 
maximum  efficiency. 

It  is  certainly  logical  to  say  that  no  single  indi\ddual  can 
reach  the  state  of  greatest  prosperity  except  when  that 
indi\'idual  has  reached  his  highest  state  of  efficiency;  that 
is,  when  he  is  turning  out  his  largest  daily  output. 

This  being  correct,  the  most  important  object  of  both 
the  w'orkmen  and  the  management  should  be  the  training 
and  development  of  each  man  so  that  he  can  do  (at  his 
fastest  pace  and  with  maximum  ot,  efficiency)  the  highest 
class  of  work  for  which  his  natural  ability  fits  him. 

But  w'hat  is  the  trouble  with  the  old  style  of  management 


SCIENTIFIC   MANAGEMENT  ii 

which  has  been  used  and  has  done  service  for  years?  Why 
change? 

One  trouble  has  been  in  the  selection,  or  effort  to  select, 
the  so-called  "born  managers."  These  managers  have  been 
selected  so  as  to  secure  the  best  possible  work  out  of  the 
workers.  Under  them  have  been  placed  subordinate  bosses 
who,  to  a  degree,  have  similar  managerial  instincts.  The 
methods  employed  by  these  so-called  managers  have  varied 
according  to  the  character  of  the  work.  The  reader  is 
familiar  with  the  type  of  manager  that  is  employed  on  the 
railroad  section.  He  is  there  because  he  can  drive.  The 
manager  employed  where  a  higher  class  of  workman  is 
used  uses  different  methods.  He  encourages  the  workers 
by  making  suggestions,  does  everything  to  prevent  friction, 
to  increase  the  good  fellowship,  etc. 

The  trouble  ^\'ith  both  these  types  is  that  their  success 
depends  largely  on  the  personal  equation  —  if  the  mana- 
ger is  changed  the  results  change.  Again  the  trouble 
with  this  style  of  management  is  that  the  worker  is  inclined 
to  do  as  little  work  as  he  can  without  losing  his  recompense, 
and  the  management  is  inclined  to  get  as  much  work  as 
possible  out  of  the  worker  without  increasing  his  recompense. 

Another  troul^le  with  this  method  of  employing  managers 
is  that  as  a  rule  the  workers  know  more  about  their  work 
and  the  right  way  to  do  it  than  the  bosses  over  them.  They 
are  in  a  position  to  seem  to  be  accomplishing  more  than 
they  really  are. 

Another  trouble  is,  as  a  rule,  the  boss  or  manager  has  so 
many  important  details  to  look  after  that  he  has  to  overlook 
things  which  are  apparently  of  minor  importance.  The 
worker  has  to  deal  with  these  as  best  he  can,  although  the 
aggregate  loss  of  efficiency  as  a  result  of  this  necessary 
negligence  on  the  part  of  the  boss  is  large. 

In  the  past  many  remedies  have  been  proposed  and  tried 


12  SCIENTIFIC   SALES  MANAGEMENT 

for  getting  around  these  things.  These  have  included 
piece  work  bonuses,  profit  sharing  devices,  time  checks,  the 
use  of  inspectors,  spotters,  spies,  etc.  None  of  these  things 
work  out  as  they  should. 

Perhaps  it  would  be  well  to  give  here  a  few  definitions  of 
Scientific  Management;  then,  in  the  brief  space  available 
to  explain  the  meaning  of  the  definitions,  illustrating  them 
by  examples  of  results  obtained  from  their  application. 

Mr.  Ernest  H.  Abbott  of  the  Outlook,  in  an  article  which 
aj^pcarcd  January  7,  191 1,  gives  the  following  as  the  four 
principles  of  Scientific  Management: 

First,  the  planning  department,  with  its  various  functions  assigned  to 
different  agents,  should  be  in  full  control  of  every  part  of  the  organism, 
determining  exactly,  and  ordering  by  means  of  drafted  directions,  not 
only  what  the  product  shall  be,  but  how  the  processes  shall  be  carried  on. 

Second,  to  this  end  the  planning  department  must  adhere  to  the  laws 
of  science  (the  science  of  the  laboratory)  in  studying  and  deciding  upon 
all  the  elements  in  the  common  enterprise,  including  in  these  elements 
not  only  things  and  their  properties,  but  also  men  and  their  ways. 

Third,  necessarily,  therefore,  the  planning  department  must  abandon 
the  practise  of  classifying  men  according  to  the  labels  they  wear,  and 
instead  must  proceed  scientifically  in  the  selection  of  the  workers  and 
in  the  assignment  of  them  to  their  tasks. 

Fourlh,  the  planning  department  must  adopt  such  a  system  of  dis- 
tributing responsibility  and  compensation  as  will  make  authority  coin- 
cident wnVa  knowledge  and  apportion  reward  according  to  service 
rendered. 

Mr.  Taylor  has  put  his  definition  in  a  different  order,  as 
follows : 

15^  The  development  of  a  science  in  place  of  "rule  of  thumb"  for 
each  element  of  the  work. 

2nd.     The  scientific  selection  and  training  of  the  workman. 

3r<f.  The  bringing  of  science  and  the  scientifically  trained  workman 
together  through  the  co-operation  of  the  management  with  the  man. 

4//!.  An  almost  equal  division  of  the  work  and  the  responsibility 
between  the  management  and  the  workman,  the  management  taking 


SCIENTIFIC   MANAGEMENT  13 

over  all  the  work  for  which  they  are  better  fitted  than  the  workmen, 
while  in  the  past  almost  all  of  the  work  and  the  greater  part  of  the 
responsibility  were  thrown  upon  the  workmen. 

Mr.  Harrington  Emmerson  gives  the  following  list  of 
twelve  principles: 

(i)  Ideals  (7)  Planning 

(2)  Common  Sense  (8)  Standards 

(3)  Competent  Coimsel  (9)  Standard  Conditions 

(4)  Disciphne  (10)  Standard  Operations 

(5)  Fair  Deal  (11)  Written  Instructions 

(6)  Records  (12)  Rewards 

The  trouble  with  the  present  t^-pe  of  worker,  who  is 
called  a  mechanic,  is  that  he  has  picked  up  his  knowledge 
from  another  mechanic,  who  in  turn  picked  his  up  from 
another.  The  mechanic  learned  his  trade  as  an  apprentice 
and  the  man  who  taught  him  learned  it  the  same  way. 
This  is  true  of  the  bricklayer,  the  typesetter,  the  weaver, 
and  the  shoveler.  In  each  case  the  man  with  the  trade  has 
acquired  by  word  of  mouth  and  by  watching  others  at  work 
the  traditional  practises  of  the  workmen  of  that  trade. 

The  use  of  the  central  planning  department  brings  the 
management  and  the  workmen  together.  There  is  co- 
operation between  them.  There  is  a  sharing  equally  in 
the  responsibilities   of   the   work. 

Under  Scientific  Management  a  close  observation  is  made 
of  a  few  selected  workmen.  Every  move  and  motion  of 
these  men  as  they  perform  their  task  is  watched.  The  time 
required  for  each  motion  is  noted,  the  observer  using  a 
stop  watch.  Finally  all  unnecessary  movements  and  mo- 
tions are  eliminated,  and  some  new  useful  motions  are 
added.  This  illustrates  the  first  part  of  Mr.  Taylor's 
definition. 

Mr.  F.  B.  Gilbreth  was  very  much   impressed  with  the 


14  SClKXTTl'Tr    SALES    MANAGEMENT 

Nviirk  wliich  Mr.  Taylor  had  conducted  in  the  art  of  cutting 
metals,  and  he  decided  to  make  some  experiments  in  brick- 
laying. 

He  analyzed  the  motions  of  the  bricklayer  by  going  through 
them  himself.  The  lirst  thing  he  discovered  was  that  every 
time  a  bricklayer  stooped  down  to  })ick  u\)  a  l^rick  he  lifted 
about  one  hundred  and  ten  pounds.  The  uj^per  part  of  a 
man's  body  weighs  somewhat  more  than  a  hundred  pounds, 
and  in  order  to  ])ick  up  a  five  pound  brick  he  had  to  lift  the 
weight  of  his  body  too.  Not  much  of  the  wasted  effort 
was  saved  if  he  picked  up  two  bricks.  He  at  once  concluded 
that  immense  effort  would  be  saved  if  the  bricklayer  did  not 
have  to  stoop  at  all. 

The  next  thing  he  discovered  was  that  the  bricklayer  used 
up  time  and  effort  in  turning  the  brick  around  in  his  hand 
until  he  got  it  in  the  correct  position  (for  a  brick  has  a  top 
and  a  bottom),  and  he  concluded  that  the  brick  should  be 
delivered  to  the  bricklayer  right  side  up.  Then  he  saw  that 
the  bricklayer  used  up  time  and  effort  in  tapping  the  brick 
to  sink  it  to  the  proper  depth  in  the  mortar. 

So  by  analysis  he  found  that  in  bricklaying  there  were  two 
distinct  sets  of  motions:  on  the  one  hand  useful  and  agree- 
able, and  on  the  other  useless  and  disagreeable.  By  study 
of  the  subject  he  so  eliminated  the  useless  and  the  disagree- 
able motions  as  to  reduce  the  total  number  from  eighteen  to 
five.  As  a  consequence,  in  spite  of  the  incidental  cost  in- 
volved in  making  some  change  in  apparatus  (moving  scaffold, 
for  example,  on  which  brick  could  be  delivered  at  the  right 
height),  in  employing  some  extra  helpers  for  sorting  the 
brick,  and  the  like,  he  increased  the  output  from  something 
like  a  thousand  brick  per  man  a  day  to  about  twenty-seven 
hundred. 

This  increase  in  output  enabled  him  to  promise  every 
workman  who  followed  his  directions  an  increase  in  pay. 


SCIENTIFIC   MANAGEMENT  15 

On  the  other  hand,  the  workmen,  so  far  from  being  speeded 
up,  were  actually  enabled  to  do  their  work  with  less  fatigue. 

A  most  striking  example  of  the  effectiveness  of  Scientific 
Management  is  shown  in  the  handling  of  pig  iron.  Surely 
nothing  would  apparently  be  less  susceptible  to  scientific 
study.  In  a  steel  plant  the  pig  iron  handler  stoops  down 
and  picks  up  a  pig  of  iron  weighing  about  ninety-two  pounds, 
carries  it  for  a  few  feet  or  yards,  and  drops  it  on  the  ground. 

At  the  plant  of  the  Pennsylvania  Steel  Company  Mr. 
Taylor  accompHshed  wonderful  things  in  this  one  line  of 
work.  The  men  of  the  plant  were  averaging  about  12^ 
tons  per  day  per  man  and  earning  $1.15  per  day.  A  series 
of  experiments  was  made  which  proved  conclusively  that 
a  first  class  pig  iron  handler  ought  to  handle  without  any 
additional  fatigue  from  forty-seven  to  forty-eight  long  tons 
per  day  instead  of  12^  tons. 

These  figures  were  remarkable  and  it  seemed  that  they 
could  hardly  be  true.  In  the  midst  of  the  experiments 
Mr.  Taylor  handed  the  data  over  to  a  mathematical  expert 
in  order  to  discover  the  law.  This  man  discovered  that 
fatigue  varied  in  accordance  with  a  certain  relation  between 
the  amount  of  load  and  the  periods  of  rest.  For  example, 
a  man  carrying  a  ninety-two  pound  pig  had,  in  order  to 
avoid  fatigue,  to  be  at  rest  fifty-eight  per  cent  of  the  time. 

One  man  was  selected  to  prove  the  correctness  of  the 
figures  and  conclusions.  This  man  was  making  $1.15  per 
day.  He  was  loading  12^  tons  per  day.  He  agreed  to  do 
exactly  what  the  man  in  charge  of  the  experiment  told  him 
to  do.  He  was  to  carry  pig  iron  when  he  told  him,  he  was 
to  put  it  down  when  he  was  told,  and  in  return  for  this  he 
was  to  receive  $1.65  per  day. 

This  man  started,  and  all  day  long  and  at  regular  inter- 
vals he  was  told  by  the  man  who  stood  over  him  with  a 
watch,  "Now  pick  up  a  pig  and  walk.     Now  sit  down  and 


1 6  SCIENTIFIC   SALES   MANAGEMENT 

rest.  Now  walk  —  now  rest,  etc."  He  worked  when  he 
was  told  to  work  and  rested  when  he  was  told  to  rest,  and 
at  half-past  five  in  the  afternoon  had  his  47!  tons  loaded 
on  the  car.  This  man  never  failed  to  work  at  this  pace  and 
to  do  the  task  that  was  set  before  him  during  the  three  years 
that  Mr.  Taylor  was  at  that  place. 

One  man  after  another  was  educated  in  this  method  until 
the  entire  force  was  able  to  handle  practically  four  times  as 
much  pig  iron  per  day  and  the  men  were  receiving  sixty  per 
cent  more  wages  than  other  workmen  in  the  same  kind  of 
business.  I  advise  my  readers  to  read  the  details  of  this 
remarkable  experiment. 

It  is  interesting  to  consider  and  note  that  neither  the 
bricklayers  nor  the  pig  handlers  individually  by  any  amount 
of  ingenuity  could  have  made  such  an  improvement  in  their 
output.  The  bricklayer  alone  could  not  possibly  have 
arranged  to  have  the  bricks  delivered  to  him  in  the  way  which 
was  necessary,  even  if  by  accident  he  had  discovered  such 
method  of  delivery  would  make  him  more  efficient.  As  for 
the  pig  iron  handle!,  nothing  but  scientific  study  could  have 
developed  the  law  which  made  possible  this  output.  Here 
we  see  that  the  management  has  taken  up  much  of  the 
responsibility  for  the  individual  methods  of  working. 

The  question  of  shoveling  came  up.  A  computation  was 
made  as  to  what  a  shovel  load  should  be.  Will  a  first  class 
man  do  more  work  with  a  shovel  load  of  5  lbs.,  10  lbs.,  20, 
25,  30,  or  40  lbs.?  This  was  determined.  The  size  of  the 
shovel  for  different  kinds  of  material  was  decided.  Finally, 
as  a  result  of  work  in  this  line,  the  following  results  were 
obtained.  Under  the  old  plan  there  were  from  400  to  600 
shovelers.  Under  this  new  plan  with  a  set  task  and  proper 
tools  there  were  only  140.  The  average  number  of  tons 
shoveled  per  day  per  man  was  16.  Under  the  new  plan  it 
was  made  59,  \irtually  four  times  as  much.     The  average 


SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT  17 

earnings  per  man  per  day  were  $1.15,  and  they  were  made 
$1.88.  The  average  cost  of  handling  a  ton  under  the  old 
plan  was  $0,072,  and  under  the  new  plan  it  was  $0,033. 

Mr.  Taylor  was  given  the  task  of  systematizing  the 
largest  bicycle  ball  factory  in  this  country.  The  company 
had  been  running  from  eight  to  ten  years  on  ordinary 
day  work  before  he  undertook  its  reorganization,  so  that 
the  120  or  more  girls  who  were  inspecting  the  balls  were 
"old  hands"  and  skilled  at  their  jobs.  These  girls  were 
working  io|  hours  a  day  with  a  Saturday  half -holiday. 
One  of  the  first  things  that  was  done  was  to  shorten  the 
hours.  First  they  were  cut  to  ten  hours  and  the  output 
increased;  then  to  nine  and  eight  and  a  half,  the  pay 
remaining  the  same.  With  each  shortening  of  the  working 
day  the  output  increased.  Tests  were  made  of  the  quali- 
fications of  the  girls  for  the  work.  Girls  with  what  is 
known  as  a  low  personal  coefficient  were  selected. 

While  these  girls  were  being  selected,  other  things  were 
going  on.  Steps  were  taken  to  guard  the  accuracy  of  the 
inspection.  Even  when  the  hours  of  labor  had  been  short- 
ened to  8|  hours  a  close  observation  showed  that,  after 
about  an  hour  and  a  half  of  continuous  work,  the  girls 
began  to  get  nervous.  Accordingly,  at  the  end  of  each  hour 
and  a  quarter,  recesses  of  ten  minutes  were  ordered.  They 
were  obliged  to  stop  work  and  leave  their  seats.  The  final 
outcome  was  that  thirty-five  girls  did  the  work  formerly 
done  by  1 20  and  the  accuracy  of  the  work  at  the  higher  speed 
was  two  thirds  greater  than  at  the  former  slow  speed. 

The  good  that  came  to  the  girls  was  that  they  averaged 
from  eighty  to  one  hundred  per  cent  higher  wages  than  they 
formerly  received.  Their  hours  of  labor  were  shortened 
from  io|  to  8^  hours  per  day,  with  a  Saturday  half-holiday. 
They  were  given  four  recreation  periods  properly  distributed 
through  the  day.     Finally,  each  girl  was  made  to  feel  that 


iS  SCIEXTIFIC   SALES   MANAGEMENT 

she  was  the  object  of  special  care  and  interest  on  the  part 
of  the  management,  and  that,  if  anything  went  wrong  with 
her,  she  could  always  have  a  helper  and  teacher  to  lean 
upon. 

The  benefits  which  came  to  the  company  were  a  substan- 
tial improvement  in  the  quality  of  the  product,  a  material 
reduction  in  the  cost  of  inspection,  in  spite  of  the  extra 
expense  involved  —  clerical  work,  teacher,  time  study,  over- 
inspectors,  etc.  Finally,  the  company  gained  most  friendly 
relations  between  itself  and  its  employees,  which  rendered 
labor  troubles  of  any  kind  or  a  strike  improbable. 

In  all  these  experiments  the  second  principle  of  the  defi- 
nition is  carried  out.  Various  tests  are  used  to  select  the 
proper  workers  for  the  task.  Those  who  are  not  mentally 
or  physically  fitted  for  that  sort  of  work  are  taken  out. 
Thus  in  the  pig  iron  experiment  many  men  were  found  who 
were  not  mentally  or  physically  fitted  for  it.  These  were 
given  other  work  and  many  of  them  are  now  recei\'ing  larger 
wages  than  they  were  earning  or  could  have  earned  carrying 
pig  iron.  The  same  circumstances  which  revealed  their 
unfitness  for  that  sort  of  work  revealed  qualities  which  fitted 
them  for  a  better  class  of  labor. 

An  important  thing  in  connection  with  this  science  is 
the  effect  which  the  set  task  has  upon  the  efficiency  of  work- 
men. It  has  become  such  an  important  element  of  the 
mechanism  of  Scientific  Management  that  many  people  call 
it  Task  Management.  The  advantages  of  it  may  be  well 
understood  by  considering  the  school  teacher.  No  teacher 
would  think  of  gi\"ing  a  constant  and  indefinite  task  to  learn 
each  day.  The  average  schoolboy  would  go  very  slow'ly  if, 
instead  of  being  given  a  set  task,  he  was  told  to  do  as  much 
as  he  could.  Instead,  the  teacher  tells  him  to  do  ten  prob- 
lems per  day.  Then  there  is  a  degree  of  satisfaction  when 
he  accomplishes  the  task. 


SCIENTIFIC   MANAGEMENT  19 

Workmen  and  salesmen  are  boys  grown  uj).  If  you  set 
the  task  so  that  the  end  is  sufficiently  close  to  them,  they 
work  to  much  better  advantage.  Probably  one  of  the 
chief  reasons  why  profit  sharing  schemes  have  not  been 
more  successful  is  the  very  indefiniteness  of  the  task  with  a 
reward  set  too  far  ahead.  Possible  profits  one  year  hence 
are  overshadowed  in  the  mind  of  the  worker  by  sure 
pleasures  from  soldiering  today.  He  would  work  to  better 
advantage  wdth  a  daily  set  task  and  a  sure  reward  for  its 
accomplishment. 

It  is  equally  important,  if  a  task  is  to  be  set  which  calls 
for  a  high  rate  of  speed,  that  the  worker  should  also  be 
insured  the  necessary  high  rate  of  pay  whenever  he  is 
successful.  One  must  see  the  remarkable  and  almost  uni- 
formly good  results  from  the  correct  application  of  the  task 
and  the  bonus  before  he  can  appreciate  its  importance. 

It  is  a  fact  that  at  least  fifty  thousand  workmen  in  the 
United  States  employed  under  Scientific  Management  are 
receiving  one  hundred  per  cent  higher  wages  than  are  paid 
to  others  of  the  same  caliber,  and  that  the  companies  who 
employ  these  men  are  more  prosperous  than  ever  before. 

If  a  manufacturer  is  tempted  to  install  Scientific  Manage- 
ment, he  should  not  be  in  a  hurry.  Many  mistakes  have 
been  made  by  installing  it  too  rapidly.  Only  one  workman 
at  a  time  should  be  dealt  with  at  the  start.  Until  this  single 
man  has  been  thoroughly  convinced  that  a  great  gain  has 
come  to  him  from  the  new  method  no  further  change  should 
be  made.  Then  one  man  after  another  should  be  tactfully 
changed  over. 


what  is  Scientific  Sales 
Management  ? 


chapter  III 

TVhat  is  Scientific  Sales 
Alana^ement? 

You  might  ask  at  the  beginning,  what  is  the  use  of 
having  sales  management  or  a  sales  manager  in 
any  selling  proposition?  The  real  purpose  of  sales 
management  should  be  —  to  increase  net  profits  through 
increased  sales  at  decreased  net  percentage  of  selling  cost. 
In  this  book  percentage  of  selling  cost  is  constantly  referred 
to  as  "cost-to-seil." 

If  all  the  manufacturers  of  America  were  assembled, 
together  with  all  the  jobbers  of  this  country,  I  believe  I 
would  be  well  within  the  bonds  of  conservatism  if  I  told 
them  that  one  milUon  dollars  per  day  was  being  wasted 
through  the  wrong  sort  of  sales  method.  By  that  I  would 
mean,  through  the  employment  of  the  old  type  of  salesman 
and  his  direction  under  the  old  style  of  sales  management. 
I  would  tell  these  manufacturers  that  in  no  part  of  their 
business  was  there  a  bigger  opportunity  for  more  satis- 
factory results  than  the  building  up  of  a  high  class,  profit 
yielding  sales  organization. 

Years  ago  I  was  in  the  employ  of  one  of  the  largest  cor- 
porations in  America.  It  has  a  highly  developed  sales 
organization.  At  intervals  I  used  to  meet  the  big  man  of 
that  concern.  He  would  easily  rank  as  one  of  the  three 
biggest  business  men  in  this  country.  He  would  ask  me  a 
few  things  about  conditions  in  my  part  of  the  country.  As  I 
answered  I  would  probably  ramble,  but  tell  what  seemed  to 


24  SCIENTIFIC   SALES  MANAGEMENT 

mc  essentials  rather  than  details.  Almost  always  before  I 
had  finished  talking  about  some  particular  community  he 
would  ask  me,  "What  is  the  cost-to-sell  at  that  place?" 
I  do  not  recollect  that  he  ever  asked  me  particularly  about 
the  volume.  This  was  because  his  system  was  such  that 
he  was  sure  of  the  volume.  He  was  interested  to  know  how 
I,  his  sales  manager  in  that  part  of  the  country,  was  spend-  . 
ing  his  money  to  secure  volume.  In  other  words,  he  wanted 
to  know  what  the  percentage  of  cost  on  the  sales  was  for 
business  secured  in  my  territory. 

There  is  a  most  inviting  field  for  every  manufacturer  and 
jobber  to  increase  his  volume  and  decrease  the  cost-to-sell 
through  the  proper  use  of  Scientific  Sales  Management. 
Of  course,  volume  and  cost-to-scU  go  hand  in  hand.  Cost- 
to-sell  decreases  twice  as  fast  when  you  increase  volume  y 
under  the  right  conditions.  Consider,  Mr.  Manufacturer,  *' 
what  it  would  mean  to  you  if  you  decreased  the  cost-to- 
sell  from  one  to  five  per  cent.  Think  further  how  much 
more  it  would  mean  if  you  decreased  the  cost-to-sell  while 
at  the  same  time  you  increased  the  volume.  There  are  a 
few  really  great  commercial  organizations  in  this  covmtry, 
and  without  exception  they  have  highly  developed  sales 
organizations. 

Scientific  Management  has  had  to  do  chiefly  with  the 
manufacturer  and  shop  practise.  To  a  degree  it  has  also 
gone  into  the  work  of  office  management,  the  purchase  of 
supplies,  the  storage  of  materials,  accounting,  etc.  It  has 
not  taken  in  a  most  important  phase  of  manufacturing  or 
commercial  success;   namely,  Selling. 

Mr.  Hugh  Chalmers  once  said  that  it  was  easy  enough  to 
manufacture  goods,  but  that  it  took  a  mighty  smart  man 
to  sell  them.  He  termed  manufacturing  the  assembling 
of  the  three  M's;  namely,  Money,  Machinery,  and  Men, 
stating  that  the  last  was  the  most  important. 


SALES   MANAGEMENT   DEFINED  25 

I  have  been  fortunate  enough  to  meet  several  of  the  men 
who  are  prominent  in  Scientific  Management.  I  have 
read  most  of  the  things  which  they  have  written.  I  have 
realized  more  and  more  that  my  own  ideas  and  practise  in 
sales  management  really  embodied  and  followed  the  same 
principles  and  laws  in  sales  work  that  they  employed  in 
shop  work. 

In  Scientific  Sales  Management  I  would  lay  great  stress 
on  a  more  equal  division  of  the  responsibility  between  the 
salesman  and  the  management.  The  management  itself 
should  take  over  all  work  now  being  done  by  the  salesman 
for  which  it  is  better  fitted  than  he.  To  do  this  I  would 
create  a  central  planning  department  for  the  salesmen. 
The  work  which  this  department  does  is  called  Sales  Co- 
operation. It  advocates  making  the  salesman  the  closer 
and  not  the  missionary.  Using  salesmen  as  missionaries 
costs  too  much  money.  Missionary  work  is  one  of  the 
things  which  causes  the  million-dollar-a-day  waste  in  selling 
America's  goods. 

Scientific  Sales  Management  has  to  do  also  with  the 
proper  selection  of  the  man  for  the  task.  The  chapter  that 
follows  on  hiring  salesmen  goes  into  this  matter  to  some 
degree. 

Scientific  Sales  Management  should  study  the  physical 
and  mental  qualities  which  are  required  to  make  a  man 
suitable  for  this  sort  of  work.  It  should  eliminate  those 
who  are  not  fitted  either  mentally  or  physically. 

In  these  days  there  is  a  vigorous  search  for  more  competent 
men.  This  search  reaches  from  presidents  of  companies 
down  to  household  servants.  The  demand  is  in  excess  of 
the  supply.  The  wrong  sort  of  sales  managers  are  on  a 
constant  lookout  for  so-called  "star"  salesmen.  They  are 
on  the  lookout  for  ready-made,  experienced,  competent 
men  —  the    men    whom    someone  '  else  has  trained.      The 


26  SCIENTIFIC   SALES   MANAGEMENT 

sales  manager  who  works  under  Scientific  Sales  Manage- 
ment realizes  that  his  duty  lies  in  systematically  training 
this  desired  competent  man  rather  than  in  hunting  for  such 
a  man  whom  someone  else  has  trained. 

Mr.  Taylor  says  that  in  the  future  it  will  be  provided  that 
all  leaders  must  be  trained  right  as  well  as  born  right,  and  no 
great  man  can  (with  the  old  system  of  ])ersonal  management) 
hope  to  compete  with  a  number  of  ordinary  men  who  have 
been  properly  organized  so  as  to  co-operate  efl5ciently. 

Scientific  Sales  Management  believes  in  the  proper  train- 
ing of  the  salesman.  This  training  even  goes  do\\Ti  to  the 
individual  motions  and  work  of  the  salesmen.  It  goes  so 
far  as  to  insist  upon  the  substitution  of  exact  methods  of 
work  by  the  indi\idual  salesman  for  scattered  efforts.  This 
is  carried  out  even  to  the  matter  of  standardizing,  in  some 
propositions,  the  salesman's  talk,  his  manner  of  approach, 
etc.  You  will  find  chapters  in  this  book  wliich  cover  stand- 
ardizing the  salesman's  talk. 

As  for  training  this  salesman,  it  gives  him  the  benefit  of 
attendance  at  meetings  and  councils.  It  supplies  him  with 
house  organs.  It  believes  in  what  Scientific  Management 
calls  functional  foremen.  This  means  giving  him  the  bene- 
fit of  expert  advice  and  giving  him  access  to  those  who  are 
specialists  in  their  particular  lines.  For  instance,  at  sales- 
men's meetings,  I  have  seen  at  least  six  different  men  give 
talks  and  instructions  on  six  different  parts  of  the  salesman's 
work. 

How  has  a  salesman  learned  his  business?  Often  he  has 
been  taught  by  a  fellow-salesman,  somebody  with  whom 
he  has  picked  up  an  acquaintance,  or  perhaps  a  member  of 
his  own  organization.  Such  instruction,  to  say  the  least,  has 
been  unsystematic.  About  as  often,  without  any  instruction, 
he  has  been  turned  loose  with  samples,  prices,  business  cards, 
order  blanks,  etc.,  and  told  to  secure  business. 


SALES   MANAGEMENT  DEFINED  27 

Scientific  Sales  Management  in  this  book  is  not  discussing 
how  salesmen  should  sell,  but  rather  the  methods  by  which 
sales  managers  can  so  direct  the  work  of  their  salesmen 
as  to  secure  the  maximum  of  efficiency.  Scientific  Sales 
Management  studies  the  problems  of  selling  and  the  methods 
used  to  make  the  sale,  attempting  to  eliminate  the  hit-or- 
miss  methods  and  to  apply  science. 

Scientific  Sales  Management  recognizes  the  advantages  of 
the  definite  or  set  task  for  the  salesman  and  the  shortening 
of  the  period  in  which  the  salesman  works  in  order  to  at- 
tain that  task.  In  the  previous  chapter  it  has  been  pointed 
out  that,  to  secure  the  best  results  from  men,  the  task 
should  be  set  for  a  reasonably  short  time.  Salesmen  are 
much  more  interested  in  working  on  a  task  which  covers  a 
day,  a  week,  or  a  month,  than  to  be  told  to  sell  as  many 
goods  as  they  can,  and  to  look  a  year  ahead  for  the  results 
and  rewards.  On  this  account  I  advocate  frequent  contests, 
the  setting  of  quotas  for  a  short  period,  recognition  for 
increases  in  distribution,  etc. 

It  may  not  be  possible  to  set  a  definite  task  in  all  sales 
propositions,  but  there  should  be  definite  goals  toward 
which  the  salesman  is  aiming  and  at  which  he  can  arrive 
within  a  reasonably  short  time. 

One  example  of  this,  and  it  has  been  used  with  great 
success  by  manufacturers  of  such  things  as  oflfice  devices, 
is  the  plan  that  each  salesman  should  sell  one  of  these 
articles  per  day  or  per  week.  This  has  been  carried  on  as 
a  contest  with  remarkable  results. 

The  trouble  with  all  the  old  systems  of  management, 
both  manufacturing  and  selling,  and  the  various  remedies 
which  have  been  employed  to  increase  the  results,  is  that 
the  remedies  have  been  based  on  the  assumption  that  the 
workers  themselves  knew  how  to  do  their  work  in  the  best 
way.     The  assumption  has  been  that  all  that  was  needed 


28  SCIENTIFIC   SALES   MANAGEMENT 

was  an  incentive  or  spur  to  make  the  workman  or  salesman 
do  his  best.  Scientific  Sales  Management  is  ahve  to  the 
stimulating  cfTect  of  the  incentive  or  initiative,  but  further 
tlian  that  it  believes  that  often  the  workers  do  not  know 
how  to  do  their  best  and  that  they  are  entitled  to  more  help 
from  the  management  than  they  have  had  in  the  past. 


Co-operating  with  the  Salesman 

Covering  the    Territory  for 

the  First   Time 


chapter  //^ 


L^foapter  i^ 

Co-operating  with  the  Salesman 

Covering  the    'Territory  for 

the  First   Time 


tme 

IT  is  my  idea  to  be  quite  specific  in  showing  the  appli- 
cation of  the  principles  of  Scientific  Sales  Management. 
In  so  doing  I  shall  encounter  the  opposition  of  some 
readers  who  will  say  that  the  things  illustrated  are  different 
from  their  business.  Nevertheless  the  principles  are  the 
same  and,  if  slightly  changed,  may  be  applied  to  any 
business. 

Let  us  consider  the  methods  to  be  employed  on  a  territory 
which  is  to  be  covered  for  the  first  time.  Whether  the 
salesman  is  to  sell  a  specialty  or  a  staple  makes  little  differ- 
ence. The  prehminary  work  should  be  the  same.  The 
amount  of  money  which  might  wisely  be  spent  in  sales 
co-operation  per  possible  customer  is  determined  to  some 
degree  by  the  average  selling  price  of  the  specialty,  or  if  a 
staple,  by  the  average  sales  to  a  new  customer  during  six 
months  to  a  year.  It  is  my  practise  to  figure  what  the 
profits  would  be  from  selling  only  one  per  cent  of  the  list 
of  possible  customers  and  then  lo  spend  that  amount  of 
money  on  sales  co-operation. 

Assume  that  we  have  an  article,  the  average  sale  of  which 
will  be  $75,  or  if  it  is  a  staple,  on  which  the  average  business 
for  six  months  will  amount  to  $75.     Also  grant  that  $25  is 


2,2  SCIENTIFIC   SALES  MANAGEMENT 

tlie  profit  on  such  sale  or  amount  of  sales.  I£  the  total  sales 
are  larger,  or  if  the  total  profits  are  larger,  the  amount  to 
be  spent  on  tlie  sales  co-operation  can  be  increased.  The 
principles  shown  by  this  example  will  fit  in  any  case. 

First  look  over  the  territory  and  find  out  how  many 
possibiUties  there  are.  By  possibiUties  I  mean  people  who 
ought  to  buy  your  goods  and  who  would  buy  your  goods  if 
tliey  could  be  properly  educated.  For  instance,  if  you  sell 
grocers,  printers,  or  haberdashers,  the  possibilities  are  the 
names  of  those  who  have  ratings  satisfactory  to  you  as  they 
appear  in  the  mercantile  agency  book.  You  ^\^ll  be  sur- 
prised probably  to  find  how  many  possible  buyers  of  your 
goods  there  are  in  a  territory.  Arrange  these  names  by 
States  and  to\Mis.  Two  thousand  names  is  about  the  right 
number  to  use  in  an  economical  way.  If  you  take  less  than 
two  thousand  names,  the  prmting  and  various  fixed  charges 
make  the  unit  cost  too  high,  A  list  of  five  thousand 
would  be  even  better  from  the  point  of  economy  than  two 
thousand. 

Do  not  start  your  salesmen  into  the  territory  until  con- 
siderable preliminary  work  has  been  done.  With  the 
conditions  mentioned  above,  I  would  recommend  sending 
six  prehminary  pieces  of  printed  matter  to  this  Hst  of  two 
thousand  possibiUties.  This  means  that  you  will  spend 
about  twenty-five  cents  on  each  name. 

For  the  first  piece  I  would  send  a  letter  under  a  two  cent 
stamp.  This  will  help  to  verify  quickly  the  correctness  of 
your  list.  The  wisdom  of  having  this  letter,  which  is  an 
imitation  typewritten  letter,  done  in  first  class  style  is 
obvious.  Do  not  accept  any  poor  matching  in  of  salutation 
or  poor  printing.  If  you  cannot  secure  the  effect  in  any 
other  way,  have  the  letters  written  by  a  first  class  tyjiist. 
This  will  pay,  but  you  ought  to  secure  imitation  t^-pewritten 
letters  which  will  be  equally  effective. 


FIRST  TIME   COVERING  TERRITORY        33 

Make  this  first  letter  a  direct  play  for  inquiries.  You 
will  need  these  inquiries  for  your  salesmen.  In  some  sorts 
of  businesses  you  can  secure  actual  orders  by  mail,  but  this 
is  not  the  chief  object  of  your  work  now. 

Do  not  make  the  letter  artificial ;  be  natural.  Write  just 
as  you  would  write  a  letter  which  was  going  to  one  man. 
Better  still,  wTite  it  just  as  you  would  talk  to  a  possibility. 
If  the  salesmen  talked  to  the  trade  as  some  letters  are 
written,  they  would  be  ordered  out  of  the  store.  I  give 
below  two  examples  of  what  might  be  called  good,  natural 
letters.  The  sporting  goods  letter  is  sent  out  as  an  imita- 
tion typewritten  letter  and  it  brings  answers  from  fully  fifty 
per  cent  of  the  names  to  which  it  is  sent. 

Three  years  ago  I  didn't  suppose  that  I  would  be  specializing  on 
Sporting  Goods  propositions.     A  little  accident  is  responsible. 

One  evening  the  telephone  bell  rang  and  I  was  requested  to  go  to 
Hartford,  Conn.,  to  meet  Mr.  Hiram  P.  Maxim,  the  inventor  of  the 
Maxim  Gun  Silencer.  As  a  result  Mr.  Maxim  and  I  became  good 
friends  and  I  have  done  a  great  deal  of  business  for  him.  In  con- 
nection with  his  work  I  have  "rubbed  up"  against  many  Sporting 
Goods  propositions. 

One  day  one  of  my  New  York  solicitors  told  me  that  Mr.  Powhatan  R. 
Robinson,  President  of  the  New  York  Sporting  Goods  Co.,  had  seen 
some  of  my  printed  matter  and  had  been  good  enough  to  say  he  liked  it. 
Months  after  that  I  called  on  Mr.  Robinson.  As  a  result  I  began  some 
interesting  work  for  the  New  York  Sporting  Goods  Co.  Incidentally  I 
became  rather  well  acquainted  with  several  of  the  representatives  of 
"Outdoor"  papers. 

Such  men  as  Mr.  Maxim  and  Mr.  Robinson  have  from  time  to  time 
introduced  me  to  manufacturers  of  Sporting  Goods.  Result:  We  are 
paying  considerable  attention  to  Sporting  Goods. 

I  want  a  chance  to  talk  to  you  about  your  business  —  about  your 
sales  and  your  advertising. 

I  am  not  merely  an  advertising  agent,  I  do  a  lot  of  things  besides 
placing  advertising. 

I  am  not  looking  for  enormous  appropriations,  but  for  propositions 
that  have  possibilities  in  them. 


34  SCIENTIFIC   SALES   MANAGEMENT 

Vou  miKlit  drop  a  liiu-  to  Mr.  Maxim  and  Mr.  Robinson  and  ask  a 
few  questions. 

Would  you  be  willing  to  meet  me  in  your  oftice,  or  at  cither  my  New 
York  or  New  Haven  ollice? 

Will  you  put  your  time  against  mine?  Neither  of  us  will  be  obligated 
by  this  arrangement. 

Respectfully, 

P.S.  I  have  just  published  a  book  called  "A  Little  Talk  on  Sales- 
men." If  you  employ  salesmen  you  will  be  interested  in  it.  I  will  send 
it  to  you  if  you  wish. 

Dear  Sir: 

Down  at  the  end  of  our  store  is  a  showcase  —  j'ou  may  remember  it, 
we  kept  hammers  there.  Now  we've  moved  the  hammers  because  we've 
found  a  more  interesting  lot  of  stuff  for  the  case. 

One  daj'  a  man  remarked  that  no  one  in  town  kept  a  good  line  of 
golf  clubs.  The  graj'  matter  began  to  work  and  we  made  inquiries.  We 
found  the  man  was  wrong  —  the  best  golf  clubs  in  the  countrj'  were  made 
right  in  New  Haven,  but  you  had  to  hike  way  out  to  Mill  Rock  to  buy 
them. 

You  did,  but  you  don't  now. 

\\'e've  filled  that  case  full  of  some  of  the  finest  clubs  you  ever  toted 
over  the  links.  They're  made  by  Robert  Pryde  of  course,  and  most 
golfers  hereabouts  swear  by  Pryde's  clubs.  If  you  ever  saw  him  make 
one  you'd  know  why.  He  balances  and  swings  and  otherwise  tests 
every  club  as  though  his  reputation  depended  on  that  particular  club  — 
and  so  it  does.     That's  what  has  made  his  reputation. 

We  sell  these  at  the  same  prices  Mr.  Pryde  charges  for  them  and  we 
can  have  him  build  special  clubs  to  suit  j'our  physical  or  mental  make- 
up if  our  stock  patterns  don't. 

We  also  carry  most  of  the  popular  Golf  Balls  and  a  good  line  of  Caddy 
Bags,  both  in  canvas  and  leather. 

Besides  the  golf  stuff  we've  added  a  big  line  of  Tennis  and  Base  Ball 
Goods  —  but  that's  another  story. 

Yours  for  sport. 

You  will  receive  quite  a  few  answers,  depending  on  your 
proposition  and  your  letter.  Do  not  expect  too  many. 
If  you  receive  two  per  cent  of  answers,  or  forty  letters,  the 


Yes,  Our  Spring  Water  is  Absolutely  Pure 
—  but  is  it? 


ViO-j'^' 


A  MAIL  PIECE  WHICH  HAS  BEEN  USED  WITH 
GOOD  RESULTS.  CUTS  SHOW  PIECE  FOLDED 
READY  FOR  MAILING,  THE  INSIDE,  AND 
FRONT  OF  ATTACHED  POSTAL.  ADDRESSING 
THE    FOLDED    PIECE    SIGNS    THE    POSTAL 


FIRST  TIME   COVERING  TERRITORY        35 

work  will  justify  itself.  If  you  receive  one  per  cent  the 
work  will  easily  pay  for  itself,  based  on  the  cost  and  profits 
as  originally  laid  out. 

Next  prepare  four  good  mail  pieces.  Print  them  in  first 
class  shape  in  two  colors.  Have  each  piece  carry  an  at- 
tached reply  postal  or  a  loose  postal.  Send  the  pieces  out 
at  intervals  of  one,  two,  or  four  weeks,  according  to  the 
nature  of  your  proposition.  (On  insert  opposite  is  shown 
a  typical  mail  piece.) 

For  the  sixth  mailing  we  might  use  a  letter  or  another 
printed  folder.  In  this  last  piece  make  a  particularly  strong 
play  for  inquiries.  Lay  stress  on  salesman  who  can  call  if 
asked,  and  who  will  be  in  the  vicinity  soon,  and  all  that  sort 
of  thing. 

You  have  now  sent  out  six  pieces  to  two  thousand  names. 
The  total  cost  of  this  work  ought  not  to  exceed  twenty-five 
cents  per  name,  or  $500.  If  you  have  received  only  on^  per 
cent  of  answers,  you  have  one  hundred  and  twenty  answers. 
The  figure  is  too  low,  but  it  is  made  so  purposely.  Out 
of  these  one  hundred  and  twenty  inquiries  your  salesmen 
or  your  correspondents  must  sell  twenty  average  orders  to 
secure  back  the  cost  of  the  publicity.  For  the  sake  of 
argument  just  assume  that  twenty  orders  are  secured. 

Then  you  have  in  your  hands  one  hundred  inquiries  which 
cost  you  nothing  and  which  will  be  used  by  your  salesmen. 
In  addition,  and  more  important,  you  have  talked  six  differ- 
ent times,  at  intervals  of  two  weeks,  to  1880  people,  from 
whom  you  have  heard  nothing.  They  are,  however,  in  the 
majority  of  cases,  ready  for  a  salesman's  call. 

In  the  meantime,  that  is,  during  the  time  the  pieces  have 
been  going  out,  the  inquiries  which  have  been  received  may 
have  been  followed  up  by  a  salesman,  particularly  if  they 
are  from  towns  where  traveling  is  not  too  expensive.  But 
now,  at  the  end  of  the  mailing,  you  are  ready  for   some 


36  SCIENTIFIC   SALES   MANAGEMENT 

vigorous  work.  Divide  your  mailing  list  into  parts  and 
give  it  to  the  dilTcrcnt  salesmen.  Hand  the  incjuiries  to 
the  men  who  are  to  visit  the  towns  from  which  the  inquiries 
came.  * 

The  fact  that  only  one  hundred  and  twenty  ^  have  replied 
makes  no  ditTerence  to  the  salesman.  It  is  his  duty  to  call 
on  the  inquirers,  but  most  important  of  all,  he  is  now  to 
call  in  a  regular  way  on  all  the  list.  He  is  to  mail  back  to 
headquarters  reports  of  each  call,  returning  the  pages  of 
his  mailing  list  as  he  finishes  with  it. 

Recall  that  every  name  on  that  list  has  received  six 
pieces  of  printed  matter  telling  about  your  proposition. 
Until  now  this  has  been  new  territory  for  you.  Until  now, 
to  a  large  degree,  nobody  has  ever  heard  of  your  proposi- 
tion. Under  the  old  method  of  management  you  would  send 
the  salesman  to  do  the  introductory  work.  Now  he  has  at 
least  a  dozen  who  have  wTitten  in  asking  for  information. 
Then,  more  important  than  that,  he  has  two  thousand  names 
of  firms  who  have  been  receiving  letters  and  mail  pieces. 

The  use  of  this  mailing  list  as  handed  out  to  the  salesmen 
is  most  valuable.  Some  times  I  have  had  trouble  to  secure 
the  consent  of  the  management  to  hand  this  list  to  salesmen. 
It  is  a  fact,  however,  that  the  men  cover  the  territory  much 
more  thoroughly  when  they  are  given  actual  addresses  to 
which  they  are  expected  to  go.  Of  course  they  will  discover 
names  of  impossible  buyers  or  people  who  are  out  of  business, 
but  in  the  long  run  they  will  secure  many  orders  from  people 
on  whom  they  would  not  call  if  they  did  not  have  the  list 
and  instructions.  I  have  seen  this  proven  a  great  many 
times. 

Another  great  advantage  of  having  the  salesmen  call  on 

^  The  estimate  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  inquiries  is  far  too  low. 
On  many  propositions  I  have  seen  five  per  cent  of  inquiries  from  the  first 
piece. 


FIRST  TIME   COVERING  TERRITORY        37 

this  mailing  list  is  in  connection  with  the  reports  which  they 
have  to  send  back.  One  thing  they  are  supposed  to  report 
so  far  as  they  are  able  to  learn  is  the  name  of  the  man  who 
decides  on  or  buys  your  particular  product.  This  is  most 
useful  for  subsequent  mail  work.  The  salesmen's  reports 
should  be  concise,  but  they  should  give  enough  information 
to  enable  the  correspondents  at  headquarters  to  use  them. 
Often  after  a  salesman's  call  a  sale  can  be  closed  by  subse- 
quent correspondence  from  headquarters  if  sufficient  data 
come  in  systematically  from  the  salesman. 

I  generally  arrange  the  mailing  list  by  towns,  using  sheets 
of  paper  8^  x  11,  on  which  only  one  town  appears.  If  the 
town  is  large,  it  may  require  several  sheets  of  paper,  but 
there  are  never  two  towns  put  on  the  same  sheet.  The 
salesman  is  furnished  with  the  mailing  list  on  these  sheets 
of  paper  bound  in  a  binder.  Then  as  the  salesman  finishes 
with  the  town,  he  mails  in  these  town  sheets  with  his  notes 
written  on  the  sheets  themselves.  At  the  home  office  these 
reports  and  mailing  lists  are  bound.  They  make  an  excellent 
record  of  each  salesman's  work  and  of  the  conditions  in  each 
town  or  locality.  They  are  most  useful  for  the  next  trip 
of  the  same  salesman  or  of  another  man. 

To  illustrate  some  of  the  things  about  such  work  I  am 
giving  here  the  case  of  an  office  appHance  campaign.  In 
this  instance  the  manufacturers  were  going  into  a  new 
territory  —  employing  specialty  salesmen. 

The  seUing  price  of  this  device  was  about  $350.  The 
company  was  just  starting  to  sell  its  product.  In  its  employ 
were  about  half  a  dozen  salesmen  who  were  calUng  with 
more  or  less  regularity  on  the  possible  trade  in  one  State. 
Sales  were  being  made,  but  not  in  profitable  quantities. 
Some  advertising  was  being  done  in  newspapers,  but  it  was 
of  a  very  ordinary  character.  It  didn't  make  any  marked 
favorable  impression.  It  certainly  hadn't  secured  any 
results. 


419170 


3S  SCIENTIFIC   SALES   MANAGEMENT 

I  asked  the  secretary  of  the  company  if  he  thought  that 
there  were  firms  in  existence  to  whom  the  use  of  this  machine 
was  commercially  practical  and  even  necessary.  I  asked 
him  if  he  thought  these  people  would  see  the  need  of  this 
machine  provided  they  were  properly  educated  or  shown. 
His  answer  being  favorable,  I  suggested  that  we  spend  the 
sum  of  fifty  cents  on  each  of  a  group  of  such  firms,  he  and 
liis  assistants  to  select  the  firms  which  he  considered  fair 
possibilities. 

I  showed  him  that  we  could  go  twelve  times  for  fifty  cents, 
all  expenses  included,  to  each  name,  telling  about  the  good 
points  of  his  device.  We  selected  a  hst  of  two  thousand 
names  and  arranged  to  put  out  mail  pieces  every  two  weeks 
until  the  twelve  pieces  had  gone  out,  covering  a  period  of 
twenty-four  weeks. 

The  various  selling  points  of  the  machine  were  divided 
into  twelve  parts,  one  part  being  treated  in  each  piece. 
With  some  of  the  mailing  pieces  we  enclosed  samples  of 
work  done  on  the  machine. 

Answers  were  received  in  fair  quantities  from  every  piece. 
We  figured  out  just  what  we  had  to  do  in  order  to  secure 
the  publicity  for  nothing.  The  profit  on  the  machine  was 
about  $ioo.  If  we  were  to  spend  $1000  we  had  to  sell  ten 
machines  to  break  even. 

In  order  to  be  conservative,  we  estimated  that  we  would 
receive  only  one  per  cent  of  answers  each  time,  or  twenty 
answers  per  maihng,  or  240  answers  as  a  result  of  going 
out  twelve  times. 

I  asked  the  secretary  or  sales  manager  if  he  received  240 
answers  or  inquiries,  whether  or  not  he  considered  their 
sales  force  strong  enough  to  sell  at  least  ten  of  them.  He 
readily  agreed  that  this  could  be  done.  Although  I  had 
predicted  only  one  per  cent  of  answers,  or  twenty  answers 
per  time,  we  really  received  as  high  as  sixty  answers  from 


FIRST  TIME   COVERING  TERRITORY        39 

some  of  the  pieces.  Some  pieces  pulled  much  better  than 
others. 

Based  on  my  estimate  of  receiving  240  answers,  and  the 
assurance  of  the  sales  department  that  they  could  sell  ten 
of  them,  we  had  then  230  inquiries  left  which  hadn't  cost 
us  any  money.  The  value  of  these  inquiries  was  something. 
In  their  particular  business  I  think  they  were  worth  at  least 
$5  each.  I  suggested,  however,  in  considering  this  proposi- 
tion that  we  decide  they  were  not  worth  anything  and  see 
what  else  we  had. 

We  then  had  1760  firms  who  had  never  answered  at  all, 
but  who  had  heard  from  us  every  two  weeks  for  twelve 
times.  It  was  agreed  that  the  sales  force  would  be  furnished 
with  copies  of  the  mailing  list  and  that  they  would  call  on 
all  these  firms  who  hadn't  answered. 

This  whole  thing  was  most  successful.  By  the  time  that 
we  had  been  through  about  six  pieces,  the  company  arranged 
with  me  to  make  up  another  list  of  approximately  nine 
thousand  names,  to  whom  we  sent  the  same  twelve  pieces. 
Many  interesting  things  were  brought  out  in  this  work. 

For  instance,  I  recollect  that  in  making  up  the  mailing 
list  I  put  on  about  five  names  from  one  town.  The  salesman 
had  said  that  there  were  no  good  possibiUtles  left  in  that 
particular  town.  Yet  before  we  had  put  out  four  pieces  we 
had  an  inquiry  from  one  firm  in  that  town.  A  machine  was 
placed  on  trial  and  a  sale  made  in  thirty  days.  Nevertheless 
the  sales  report  of  the  salesman  who  covered  that  town 
showed  that  he  didn't  consider  this  particular  firm  as  even 
a  possibihty. 

On  our  second  series  we  went  into  New  York  City  and 
received  from  the  first  piece  a  great  many  answers.  A 
meeting  of  the  salesmen  was  held  shortly  after  that  and  I 
had  these  answers  with  me.  One  was  from  one  of  the 
largest    department    stores    in    New    York.     I    asked    the 


40  SCIENTIFIC   SALES   MANAGE:\IENT 

salesman  if  he  had  ever  called  on  this  firm.  He  told  me  that 
he  had  been  there  three  times  and  had  not  been  able  to  get 
in  t(,)  the  ris^ht  man.  Then  I  asked  what  had  happened 
since  the  answer  was  recci\ed  and  he  informed  me  that  he 
had  called,  been  admitted,  and  a  machine  was  then  on  trial. 

In  our  second  piece  we  used  a  j^hrase  which  had  never 
appeared  before  or  since  in  any  other  printed  matter  put 
out  by  the  company.  We  spoke  in  this  piece  about  the 
Yankee  who  had  invented  this  machine.  We  called  it: 
"The  Story  of  the  Yankee  and  his  Invention."  Two  men 
spoke  of  having  called  at  concerns  in  New  York,  and  on 
sending  in  their  cards  and  having  been  admitted,  they  were 
greeted  with  the  phrase:  "Oh  yes,  that  is  the  Yankee's 
machine." 

There  are  nmnerous  concerns  manufacturing  devices 
which  sell  from  $25  and  upwards.  These  firms  often  con- 
sider too  early  the  advisability  of  doing  national  adver- 
tising. If  they  intend  to  advertise,  it  would  be  much  better 
if  they  used  local  newspapers.  Then  they  should  supple- 
ment this  work  with  something  similar  to  what  is  mentioned 
above.  In  this  way,  instead  of  having  inquiries  at  the  rate 
of  one  from  a  town  they  wall  have  a  large  number  of  in- 
quiries from  each  town,  which  inquiries  can  be  profitably 
worked  bj^  the  salesmen. 


The  STORY  of  a  YANKEE  and  an  WDEA 


Connecticut. 

CONNECTICUT  is  ihe  binSplacr  ot 
many  irnTtmonv  Scatteied  all  wei 
the  »i-«ld  arc  to  be  Eotind  niimcoits 
articles.  wUch  •kt  conadwctl  nrceMti'?;  ior 
the  modern  Wc  and  *vlncii  found  iKcu  tjirth 
ra  tKe  old  Siai^  nf  C>cn«:iicut  Wo^'v 
nuhrwgi  are  not  the  o^y  thin^  Connerticiil 
YarAe«  It«v^  itiveiUed  It  i'  a  ier»>H 
queslkw  v,4ieilj'j  cr  nol  ihcy  dnl  inv.nt 
wood^Ti  (mtim^s.  btrt  they  enjoy  ih^  \l'>r)' 
ju^t  OS  mucti  M  tlwic  ivtio  tell  It  about  lh.-m. 

Il  11  fining  that  tlie  fii'^st  prj(tK»l  add- 
mg  and  bc«lt-kc(-['in(;  nwcMDr  or  ih^  mailxl 
liy^y  should  have  stalled  m  i>ui  Slate 

An  Inventor's  Idfia. 

Vtlicn  Mr  Fred  M.  C*noU  ^vorItrd  cut 
th^  Commcrctai  Adding  Machinr-,  Ik  did  so 
m  uU«  diir-tard  even  ot  ihc  ticjilcotc  of 
any  olhcr  raachuw 


!t  pfmii  tl'C  toi.il  aJ  any  time. 

It  dishnguithss  hy  pnMJDg  in  red  and  alif 
I.v  ptrolirig  3  miDU-.  sisn,  iKc  wfcliactcd  fn.n- 
l(,c  adcW  items. 

Il  pftfis*'!  when  "*omed,  dalts.  page  or 
rjtlici  rnimbcT^  months,  day^  of  the  w.teit  ut 
tuct    biisiiTOS    icinu    a*~inv..    Pd..  Mdw.. 


The  Conuneitial  iewi= ;  i 


4  follow. 


Mr-  CaiioII  believed  iha' 
1^  a  live  busincfts  m  Oils  couutry  there  wm 
room  (or  an  adding  machlnt  tt*i  t^-ould  itcblc 
ihii  output  ol  a  boolc-kecpei.  pcreiilrag  htm  to 
inc  hit  time  on  moti;  importiiol  (Kings  than 
iuch  meclianicat  vjofK  a*  iieuiing- 

The  iciult  o(  his  cfforu  U  a  machme, 
peculiarly  adaplMt  to  commcrciJ  lervrce  ^nd 
yej,  ctjually  valtiiit»t«  in  fenanciat  institu lions. 

What  It  Ooes. 


To  g.»e  a   I...   ol   ali  It^   ^-a. 
that  the  Commcfcial  dn-rs  w.iJd  l 

fufniih  a  bri-;!  drscnplion  imiiinj! 
are  iBlCicUed  to  »ik  (oi  Furlltc'  uif'" 


wod;  15  ai' 


Visibility 

*f   iradf  ilogans  16   ihal  all   thr 

1  ill  siuhl.     This  «  stiicily  I'lK* 

in  all  dflml>.  ITk  Hejn  «  .n  -v^i  belor.- 
(TfintijTg— the  IijUI  accmnuIaJed  ii  alw-ays 
Mnre  vfiui  cv«.  The  pfinied  wort  u  s^cn 
afl  iHc  Umc.  Th-  npcralof  s*-^  ihe  lt-n«  v^ 
np  tcadj'  fo;  pnnlTnji;,  th^  accumulatt-d  (ootmn 
&f  all  pimoL?  ifrcis  and  ihe  printed  hst  s- 
(a*l  at  he  produces  it. 


h  (epcsts  any   ilwn  as    ruMv 

times  4. 

(ktwed  wtltioiir  re«itn<;.      Tlu*  pci 

vo.k. 

Anv  rwm}>^  '^  itnTi*   may  lie  <iubl 

It  adds  dnobt  i..l«mn=.  u'th  « 

loiw  M 

cithef  to  conett  •»  ir>  a!>tanj  balancci- 

Kundiwi  weigKl, 

Tbekcv*  .ve  usedth^  .ameiotit. 

Il  rnAii  ml  monlUv  lUlwrtnl 

.  (inntog 

tlw  i)»tcs,  dtbiu  and  babiKW  in  o 

«c  col«. 

with  crediic  oi  tublnnlioni  in  red- 

to  ute  ni«iinl  gymna'tiT*  atd  add  tV 
plemeirt  of  the  tubnaded  item. 

It  ij  particuUrly  weU  adapted  (or  lA-ine 
off  twil  bJances.  debits  by  addition,  ctedts 
by  subtract  ton. 

It  makes  (uis  in  ^inijfc  coiumni  on  roll 
paper,  ot  tcvcwl  columns  on  wide  bhetis  oi 
\n^  kavc. 

li    prejMtci    pay    (oi!f    and     cnvtlnp'^s. 

^imullaneoustj'  printing  bulh. 

Simplicity  of  Key  Board 

Mr.  Carroll  budt  K*  machine  with  only 
ntne  key. 

The  -Jnatl  nim,b«  >.f  l;'>^.  --a^b  C'vccd 
by  ofie  hand,  matr.  n  caw  id  train  llie 
liogefi-so  tKil  the  cpTTat-x  ncd  not  look  at 
\\h-  key  board      II  t-  admirably  adiiiHed  lo 


Should  ihe  operator  intert  ibe  wiong 
amouot  he  reed  not  ute  he»d  wort  and 
pencil.     He  can  tmmcdiately  suhtraci  il  arid 


We  Want  You  To  Kr 


Two  si^. 


Bui— and  tlnj  I!  tivnl  trnp-irt^n' — it  lub- 
icii  wl»-n  reifuiKd  'Lh.i  vhj  cvc.  .ec  a 
.chirc  that  ^rti-ally  mechanically  wlrt...-  Ird> 


The  Connecticut  Computing  Machine  Company, 
NEW   HAVEN,   CONN. 


A    MAIL    PIECE    WHICH    WAS    READ    EVEN    IN    BUSY 
NEW    YORK 


Co-operating  with  Salesmen 
Covering  T'erritory  Regularly 


chapter  V 

Co-operating  with  Salesmen 
Covering  Territory  Regularly 

THERE  are  many  lines  of  business  in  which  the 
salesman  calls  quite  regularly  on  the  trade.  This 
might  be  several  times  a  season  or  even  several 
times  a  week.  My  first  experience  in  salesman  co-operation 
was  in  a  business  where  the  trade  was  called  upon  several 
times  a  week.  Yet  in  all  these  cases  the  salesman's  results 
may  be  increased  by  intelligent  co-operation  and  planning. 

In  the  case  mentioned  above,  I  prepared  a  folder  once  a 
week.  This  was  mailed  regularly  for  five  years  with  scarcely 
an  intermission.  During  that  time  the  business  grew  from 
$300,000  t«o  over  $600,000  per  year.  These  folders  were  of  what 
is  known  as  tag  board.  They  measured  5I  x  14  and  were 
printed  on  one  side  only.  I  varied  sometimes  and  used  larger 
ones  and  other  times  used  a  plain  maiUng  card  about  5I  x  7. 

Let  us  now  consider  the  value  of  sending  out  something 
once  a  month  or  even  eight  times  a  year. 

The  amount  of  money  which  should  be  spent  is  deter- 
mined to  a  large  degree  by  the  amount  of  sales  which 
may  be  obtained  from  an  average  customer. 

As  a  rule,  two  things  are  being  sought  as  a  result  of  the 
work. 

For  one  thing  we  are  trying  to  increase  the  amount  sold 
to  present  customers,  also  at  other  times  to  sell  more  of 
certain  things  to  these  same  customers.  Salesmen  as  a  rule 
do  intend  to  follow  instructions  as  to  pushing  certain  articles, 


44  SCIENTIFIC   SALES   MANAGEMENT 

but  they  do  not  do  it  thoroughly,  because  they  haven't 
the  time. 

In  many  Hues  of  business,  particularly  that  of  a  jobber, 
the  salesmen  have  a  long  line  of  goods  to  sell.  Such  is  the 
case  with  a  wholesale  grocery  salesman.  He  is  sorely 
pressed  for  time.  It  takes  a  lot  of  tact  on  his  part  to 
secure  the  necessary  time  from  each  customer. 

Now  suppose  the  house  really  desires  to  sell  a  certain 
brand  of  corn.  Suppose  again  they  have  some  package 
coffee  which  for  various  reasons  they  desire  to  push.  Often 
they  have  such  an  article  which  nets  them  a  handsome 
profit,  but  which  doesn't  total  big  on  volume.  The  big 
salesman  is  a  tonnage  man.  He  wants  and  needs  volume. 
He  can't,  or  at  least  he  thinks  he  can't,  devote  the  greater 
part  of  his  call  to  talking  up  this  specialty.  If  he  does, 
something  ^^•ill  happen  towards  the  end  of  the  interview  which 
vnH.  end  it  abruptly  and  his  order  book  will  suffer.  Another 
thing,  he  has  a  lot  of  things  to  remember.  Unintentionally 
he  forgets  some  items.  I  used  to  carry  a  little  card  in  the 
palm  of  my  hand  on  which  I  had  five  to  ten  items  wTitten, 
so  I  would  surely  take  them  up. 

I  recently  saw  a  good  illustration  of  this  forgetting.  I 
was  spending  a  large  sum  of  money  in  newspaper  advertising 
for  a  jobber  on  two  specialties.  The  jobber  sold  quite  a 
line  of  staples.  In  addition  to  the  newspaper  advertising, 
I  mailed,  during  a  period  of  six  months,  eight  mail  pieces 
to  about  eight  thousand  merchants.  I  insisted  on  this 
latter  feature,  even  though  the  salesmen  (about  twenty-five 
in  number)  called  on  the  retailer  once  a  week.  These  men 
covered  about  half  of  this  list.  These  mail  pieces  really 
advertised  to  the  retailer  the  advertising  which  we  were 
doing  to  the  consumer.  Several  salesmen  at  our  convention 
had  insisted  that  merchants  did  not  read  these  folders. 
I  insisted  that  many  did,  and  stated  that  I  didn't  believe 


If  you  sell  your  customers  oriilnary  eegs.  the  Imu  Eck  will  he  satisfactory   if  the  seal  on  the 

chtnces  are  tlml    ttiov   *ill  be  ditsatisfied  vsilh  cirloo  ig  iinhroWen. 

thequ»la>,  n.cn:    ia    no   Mt.-h  *lK...t   ttiis.      We    mcai. 

If  you  atU  ti.em  M^,:allcJ  fresh  country  e^/-.  every  word  when  we  tell    the   eu=l.>iner   that  we 

you  have  lo  chnrce  io  mueh  that  joar  .  ,i..tuiiii  rs  -N»riiilr-e  Blue  ftilibon  Erks   to  ite  salUfaclor* . 

will  be  dissatisticd  Mlth  the   frioe.  W,    h.i.  k  jou  up  In  this  guarantee. 

The  best  way   is   lo  sell    Blue    Hihl...t,    I  „■;.'-  \^  ■    li,t\e  been  ffoaran teeing  and  advertiwns 

The  qnallty  is  -lUajB  satisfactory  anJ   \.hi-   [  n.^  lii,.--  kU)!..^n  Krks  for"a  number  of  year*.     Our 

is  always  rCJUonablc.  -wii-;:  fia^e  fte-iJily  gn-wii-      Thw   pn>%es  beyond 

You  do  net  take  the  slighte-st  nsk--we  «1>m>-  ijtieHiun   that   the   tEE^  Ei'^e  wt.sfoctlon   to   tlie 

lutelf  guarantee  that  ea<-h  nnd    f  very    Blue   Rib-  cv.i-:umer  and  stea^Iy  sule^  to  the  dealer. 


Our  Big  Advertising  Gimpaign  Starts  Sept.  8th 


'«: 

"i::": 

f   Sept.    SStli 
1    .n>ke    bis 

the  niue 
.tuct  d.s- 

^.nl.  ll.is 

•  tKI 

;!" 

li 

you 

want   your 

name  to  appear  in 

^e 

pa^e 

and  haif-p 

ape  ads — if 
ureyour  sha 
sed  busmen 

re  of  the 
this  ad- 

---.^ 

vertisi/iR     will     cr 

»te    nil 

> 

>ou,. 

id  moU  the 

attached 

v^  Provide 


DOUGLASS 
New  Haven 

Conn. 


THESE  ARE  SALESMEN  S  CO-OPERATIVE  PIECES  WHICH  CLOSED 
THE  SALE  WHEN  EVEN  THE  PROPRIETOR  FORGOT  TO  TELL 
HIS    STORY 


COVERING  TERRITORY  REGULARLY         45 

the  salesmen  always,  that  is  at  each  call,  talked  up  our 
specialties.  At  the  time  the  follo\\ang  incident  happened 
we  were  about  to  run  a  rather  large  Ad  in  each  city  telling 
about  one  of  our  specialties. 

One  of  the  members  of  the  firm  was  a  salesman.  He  was 
himself  a  wonder  as  a  salesman.  He  called  me  into  his 
ofl5ce  a  few  days  before  the  big  Ad  appeared.  He  told  me 
that  the  day  before  he  had  walked  into  a  merchant's  store. 
He  had  personally  been  insisting  that  every  one  of  his  sales- 
men push  the  specialty.  He  had  been  looking  over  their 
orders  and  criticizing  those  which  did  not  include  it.  Yet, 
as  he  told  me,  he  went  into  this  store  and  took  a  good  order 
on  the  full  Une,  thanked  the  merchant,  and  started  to  go. 

The  merchant  called  after  liim  as  he  was  leaving,  "Say, 

how  about  those which  you  are  talking  so  much  about?  " 

He  turned  around  quickly,  reahzed  that  he  himself  had 
been  negligent,  and  took  an  order  from  the  man  for  a  big 
amount  of  the  specialty. 

He  said  to  me,  "Why,  Mr.  Hoyt,  think  of  it,  here  I  am 
permitting  you  to  spend  a  lot  of  money  advertising.  I  am 
telling  my  salesmen  to  push  for  orders.  Yet  I  walk  out  of  a 
store  forgetting  to  ask  for  an  order  myself,  and  your  mail 
pieces  sold  the  goods  for  me." 

This  is  a  good  illustration  of  why  it  pays  to  help  the 
salesman.  It  shows  very  well  the  value  of  co-operation  to 
increase  the  sales  to  present  customers  and  to  increase  the 
sale  of  desirable  articles  or  specialties. 

The  other  use  of  salesmen's  co-operation  is  to  secure  new 
customers.  I  daresay  many  proprietors  feel  that  the  field 
is  thoroughly  covered.  Yet  time  and  time  again  I  have 
demonstrated  to  such  people  the  fact  that  there  were  scores 
and  hundreds  in  their  territory  to  whom  they  should  be 
selling,  but  who  were  not  buying. 

Regardless  of  whom  the  salesman  calls  upon,  I  advise  the 


46  SCIENTIFIC   SALES   MANAGEMENT 

compiling  of  a  mailinj^  list  which  is  complete.  Have  every 
possible  buyer  on  the  list.  The  very  act  of  compilinj];  such 
a  list  and  giving  co]:)ies  of  it  to  salesmen  will  help  secure  new 
customers.      But  send  to  all  these  names,  both  customers 


FOR  TRADE  PROMOTION  DEPT.    information  from  Salesmen  and  Canvassers 


NoTi:— This  forr 
ment  to  assist  tbcm 
■alnmen's  reportt. 


Xame  of  prospects 


Business^ _ 

Name  •/  man  who  decides 
Advertising  and  soles  policy- 


Street  Address   . 

Ctty  „         State . 

(PUT  CHECK.MARKS  OPPOSITE  THE  THINGS  WHICH  YOU  WANT) 

I.'    RecommeDd  continuing  to  send  mail  pieces  tive    list.      I     recommend    that     it    he 

even  after  we  complete  promotion  pieces.  restored  to  the  active  list. 

2.  Recommend  after  we  finish  the  promotion  6.     This    name    now    on    the    active    list, 
series  wc   stop.  Belter  stop  sending  pieces^   marking  it 

3.  No  use  sending  more  mail  pieces  to  this  inactive. 

firm.     Will  never  be  advertisers.  7,     Would  mail  this  firm  two  or  three  of 

4.  No  use  sending  mail   pieces  to  this  fir^n.  the    best   pieces   per  year   but  jiol    full 
Have  no  money.  series. 

5.  I    think,   this   name    is   now    on   the  inac-  8.    This  firm  has  gone  out  of  business. 

TO  TRADE  PROMOTION  DEPARTMENT:  Do  not  write  on  your  cards  the  things  mwittoned 
here  but  simply  put  on  the  number  and  then  lollow  the  instructions,  markinR  active  or  inactive  a^ 
reiuested.  None  of  these  things  are  to  be  acted  on  by  the  Trade  Promotion  Department  until  this  slip 
has  been  initialed  by  Mr.  Hoyt.  Suppose  you  should  write  7  on  the  card.  Then  the  c^rd  would  he 
marked  inactive  but  from  time  to  time  you  would  send  the  better  pieces,  acting  under  instuictions.  We 
would  issue  instructions  to  send  all  the  cards  marked  7   in  addition  to  the  regular  active  cards. 

TO  CANVASSERS:  If  yon  wish  to  make  any  further  remarks  write  them  on  the  other  side  of 
this  slip. 


Reverse  side  of  original  form  used  by  trade  promotion  or  mailing  de- 
partment.    Salesmen  return  this  with  their  recommendations. 

and  non-customers,  intelligent  sales  talk.     The  result  will 
be  many  new  accounts. 

A  very  good  way  in  connection  with  mailing  lists  is  to 
have  a  duplicate  or  triplicate  form  for  each  name  on  the 
mailing  list.  Your  trade  promotion,  or  mailing  department, 
copies  the  names  on  this  form.  The  sales  manager  keeps 
one  copy  and  hands  the  salesman  the  other  two  copies. 
The  salesman  turns  in  the  first  copy  with  notations  for  use 


COVERING  TERRITORY   REGULARLY         47 

in  editing  the  mailing  list.  On  the  reverse  side  of  this  copy 
are  printed  notations  for  the  mailing  department.  The 
other  copy  he  keeps  for  his  own  use  when  filing   a  sales 


Jkite 9-19-12. 


Salaman    JObO   P06 


City Mew  York,  B.   Y» 


Street     4545  BroadwaT 


Name  of  Wrm  RiflhaPd   Roft   ft   CQ.  , 


Name  of  Manager JR^^_J^ HOA^ jE/> 

BusinesK 


Promotion  ^^.Zea Active Tnactivti. 

Salesman's  Notation        Have  macU<  out  tales  report  .- 

Femarku:  Yet No 


ORIGINAL— Tbi*  tana  to  l>e  returned  to  trade  promotion  departmeoL 


DUPLICATE— TVh  form  t«  hm  r«tain«l  by  talfnman  for  hi*  informatiaa. 


TRIPLICATE— TU*  form  to  be  retained  by  salea  maaae«r  mttil  salctmaa 
retoTM  originaL 


Triplicate  form  used  by  trade  promotion  department  and  sales  man- 
agers for  checking  ui>  mailing  lists  through  salesmen's  calls. 

report  and  to  be  used  for  his  own  memoranda.  If  the 
sales  manager  keeps  his  copies  together  by  towns  or  dis- 
tricts, he  has  a  good  record  of  the  possibilities  in  each 
place.       After  all,  the  great  advantage  is   the  information 


4S  SCIENTIFIC   SALES   MANAGEMENT 

which  the  salesman  sends  in  to  the  maihng  department 
and  the  fact  that  the  salesman  in  receiving  these  forms 
realizes  that  he  is  expected  to  call  on  each  name. 

Consider  for  a  moment  this  phase  of  the  work  only.  Sup- 
pose a  business  sells  an  average  customer  $25  a  week,  or 
say  $1000  per  year.  Assume  that  the  profit  on  such  average 
yearly  sales  is  $100.  Now,  if  as  a  result  of  going  twelve 
times  you  secure  one  half  of  one  per  cent  of  the  list  as 
average  customers,  the  results  will  figure  this  w^ay.  Say 
the  hst  is  2000  names.  It  will  cost  you  fifty  cents  each  to 
go  twelve  times,  so  $1000  for  the  year's  work.  If  you  secure 
as  a  result  of  mailing  twelve  times  the  2000,  or  24,000,  pieces, 
just  one  half  of  one  per  cent  of  the  list,  w^hich  is  ten  average 
customers,  you  wall  have  your  money  back. 

What  else  will  you  have?  Possibly  only  twenty  replies 
or  inquiries  each  time  (too  low,  but  let  us  be  conservative). 
That  means  240  inquiries  to  be  handed  to  salesmen.  These 
inquiries  have  a  money  value.  But  1760  have  never  replied. 
They  have  had  once  each  month  for  a  year  good,  well- 
expressed  sales  letters.  The  inquiries  and  this  publicity 
have  cost  you  nothing. 

But  I  wouldn't  give  up  salesmen — not  by  a  good  deal.  If 
I  had  six  men  and  couldn't  afford  to  do  it  any  other  way,  I'd 
discharge  the  weakest  salesman,  send  out  the  mail  work,  and 
I  beheve  the  five  salesmen  would  sell  more  goods  than  the  six. 

I'd  go  over  the  territory  with  a  fine  tooth  comb  and  locate 
every  possible  buyer  in  it.  Then  I'd  fire  at  him  every 
month  or  of tener  a  good  reason  why  he  should  buy  from  me. 
Sooner  or  later  I'd  send  one  of  my  five  salesmen  to  see  him. 

If  you  don't  really  believe  it  will  work,  try  two  territories 
about  alike  in  their  possibilities  and  conditions.  Charge 
all  the  sales  ex-pense  up  to  each.  In  one  territory  charge 
also  the  expense  of  sales  co-operation.  See  which  territory 
earns  the  most  money.   See  which  has  the  lowest  cost-to-sell. 


spending  One  Dollar  on 
a  Prospect 


chapter  VI 

Spending  One  Dollar  on 
a  Prospect 

To  spend  a  dollar  on  a  prospect  in  advertising^  or  sales 
co-operation  looks  like  overdoing  the  thing.  Yet 
where  the  sales  are,  say,  $1000  for  one  article,  or 
the  same  amount  for  a  year's  business  from  an  average 
customer,  it  is  not  at  all  a  foolish  amount,  although  the 
merchandise  carries  a  profit  of  only  ten  per  cent. 

If  a  manufacturer  selling  a  $1000  article  knew  that  a 
prospective,  or  rather  possible,  customer  had  come  to  his 
town,  he  wouldn't  hesitate  to  buy  him  a  dinner.  He  might 
afterwards  take  him  to  the  theater  and  show  him  the  sights 
of  the  town.  He'd  gladly  hand  him  full  value  in  cigars  or 
drinkables.  And  even  then  he  wouldn't  be  sure  of  the  sale, 
and  the  prospect  would  fully  understand  why  he  was  being 
entertained. 

The  manufacturer  wouldn't  hesitate  to  buy  a  one  dollar 
railroad  ticket  to  go  to  visit  the  prospect. 

Let  us  consider  the  manufacturer  of  or  the  agent  for  an 
automobile  truck.  It  sells  for  $2500.  The  profit  is,  say, 
only  $500.  Here  is  one  way  to  sell  the  truck  in  a  certain 
territory. 

It  would  be  perfectly  easy  and  practical  to  select  certain 
types  of  business  organizations  for  whom  the  use  of  this 
truck  would  be   commercially  practical.     These   ty]3es  of 


S2  SCIENTIFIC  SALES   MANAGEMENT 

firnis  could  and  would  use  the  truck  if  they  were  educated 
up  to  its  quaUties  and  vahic. 

Under  the  usual  method  the  salesman  calls  as  often  as  he 
can,  as  often  perhaps  as  he  can  secure  a  hearing.  He  tells 
the  good  qualities  of  the  truck.  He  shows  the  prospect 
how'  it  would  save  liim  money  on  his  deliveries.  These 
calls  cost  somebody,  the  salesman  or  his  employer,  at  least 
fifty  cents,  if  not  one  dollar  each. 

A  better  way  would  be  to  make  up  a  list  of  2000  pos- 
sible buyers.  To  these  2000  firms  let  us  go  twenty-five 
times  during  the  year  with  a  good  printed  sales  talk,  carry- 
ing nearly  every  time  a  reply  card  for  an  inquiry.  This 
work  will  cost  complete  one  dollar  per  name  for  the  twenty- 
five  mailings.  This  means  that  every  other  week,  say  every 
other  Tuesday,  we  will  land  on  each  prospect's  desk  a  talk 
about  our  truck. 

We  TAiU  do  this  for  a  whole  year.  How  many  answers 
will  we  receive?  I  never  count  on  over  one  per  cent  per 
mailing. 

I  had  a  case  of  an  auto  truck  matiufacturer  who  wanted 
to  go  to  department  stores.  The  reader  will  realize  the 
complexity  of  a  department  store  mail.  We  had  only  the 
name  of  the  firm,  not  the  name  of  the  delivery  superintend- 
ent. I  told  this  manufacturer  that  we  ought  not  to  count 
on  over  one  half  per  cent  of  replies  per  mailing.  The  first 
piece  we  mailed  produced  five  per  cent  of  answers  or  requests 
for  catalogues  and  more  information. 

Suppose  we  receive  one  per  cent.  We  will  have  twenty 
answers  each  time,  or  500,  as  the  result  of  one  year's  work. 

Now  let  us  consider  how  little  we  must  do  in  order  to 
break  even  on  our  advertising.  If  the  car  makes  $500 
profit,  we  must  sell  four  of  our  500  inquirers  to  cover  the 
total  cost  of  the  sales  co-operation. 

Then  what  will  we  have  left?     We  will    have  496  in- 


The  "Perfect  Service"  Wagon 


Ic.  Paid 

New  Haven,  Ct. 
Permit  No.  3 


For  the  head  of  your  delivery  department 


POSTMASTER  ■. 

If  tlie  party  to  whom  this  is 
addressed  cannut  be  lound,  noti- 
fy Box  124.  New  Haven,  Conn., 
and  return  postage  will  be  sent. 


THE    FOLDER    THAT    BROUGHT    FIVE    PER    CENT    OF    INQUIRIES 
FROM  A  LIST  OF   TWELVE  HUNDRED  DEPARTMENT  STORES 


SPENDING   MONEY   ON   A   PROSPECT         53 

quiries  which  didn't  cost  us  a  cent.  What  are  such  inquiries 
worth?  They  are  from  selected  firms,  because  we  selected 
every  name  on  the  original  list.  We  didn't  go  to  small, 
impossible  firms.  Are  they  worth  $1  or  $5  each  —  or  $25 
each?  They  didn't  cost  us  anything.  Suppose  we  say 
that  they  are  worth  nothing  —  what  else  have  we?  We 
have  1500  firms  who  have  never  replied  in  any  way,  but 
every  fortnight  for  a  year  we  have  talked  to  them  about 
our  truck.  Suppose  you  now  send  salesmen  to  call  on  these 
people.  Will  they  be  a  little  more  receptive  than  if  you  had 
just  sent  salesmen  without  the  missionary  work?  Try  it 
and  see. 

Do  this  —  use  two  territories.  Send  the  same  salesmen 
first  into  the  territory  where  you  have  done  nothing.  Figure 
the  cost  of  his  sales.  About  the  ninth  mailing,  or  sooner, 
send  him  into  the  territory  where  you  have  circularized. 
Figure  the  cost-to-sell  in  this  territory. 


Meeting  the  Objections  to  Mail 
Pieces 


Chapter   VII 

Meeting  the  Objections  to  Mail 
Pieces 

OFTEN  when  I  talk  mail  pieces  for  salesmen's  co-opera- 
tion somebody  tells  me  that  such  things  are  wasted 
because  people  do  not  read  them.  They  say:  "I 
never  read  them.  I  throw  them  into  the  waste  basket  as 
soon  as  they  arrive."  There  was  a  time  when  I  believed 
that  they  were  right,  but  after  having  spent  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  dollars  on  this  work  I  know  that  they  are 
wrong. 

But  you  must  put  out  the  right  sort  of  printed  pieces. 
This  does  not  necessarily  mean  expensively  printed  pieces. 
It  does  not  require  elaborate,  high-priced  pictures. 

It  does  require  one  thing  without  any  question;  that 
is,  common-sense  copy.  It  isn't  necessarily  the  high- 
priced  piece  that  does  the  work.  If  you  write  general  stuff 
with  no  point  or  appeal,  the  elaborate  printing  will  not 
save  it. 

An  incident  which  occurred  in  the  office  of  Mr.  Hiram 
Percy  Maxim,  the  inventor  of  the  Gun  Silencer,  will  illus- 
trate to  a  degree  the  value  of  having  good  rather  than 
commonplace  folders.  Mr.  Hiram  Percy  Maxim  is  a  very 
busy  man.  He  is  much  more  concerned  with  things  that 
pertain  to  engineering  than  he  is  with  selling  propositions. 
Yet  one  day  after  I  had  induced  him  to  let  me  do  some  work 
for  him  in  advertising  his  famous   Silencer  this  incident 


SS  sriKNTIFlC   SALES  MANAGEMENT 

occurrcil.  Anionic  other  thinji;s  we  were  to  send  mailing 
pieces  to  dealers.  This  work  was  to  supplement  magazine 
work  where  we  directed  our  appeal  to  the  consumer. 

Then  Mr.  Maxim  said  to  me:  "Mr.  Hoyt,  the  success 
of  your  mail  work  for  me  will  rest  entirely  on  the  quality 
and  attractiveness  of  these  pieces.     Many  mail  pieces  or 


TRJPUCATE-T.b.,.^^.,„^o^      ^„ 

DUPUCATE-T.w^^^3'.',ZrHVJoi^ 


ORIGINAL— To  b«  unl  U>  S^n—n  uxl  .<,1^|>«J  l>7  bin 

Date 

Inquiry  from   {CXly) (State) 

Street 

Xame , 

Due  to  what  pc^er For  uhatt 

-Date  of  answer Quolatiotk 


Name  of  dealer  given 

Name  of  dealer  to  whom  salesman  it  referred^ 
Remarkt. 


SALESMAN'S  NOTATION  ONLY 


1 


Followed  up  pertonaUy  (yea  or  no)  and  ichent- 
Remartu. 


^{If  necessary  write  on  other  side) 


BEACON  FALLS  RUBBER  SHOE  CO.  NEW  YORK 


Form  for  furnishing  salesmen  wilh  copies  of  inquiries.     See  page  71. 

folders  come  in  my  mail,  but  very  few  of  them  receive  my 
attention.     The  majority  go  into  the  waste  basket." 

He  reached  over  to  a  little  drawer  in  the  top  of  his  desk, 
remarking:  "I  have  been  keeping  a  few  pieces  lately 
which  I  considered  good.  They  are  the  kind  I  do 
notice." 

Then  he  laid  in  front  of  me  six  different  printed  pieces 
which  in  the  preceding  few  weeks  he  had  saved  as  ex- 
amples of  good  printed  salesmanship. 


MEETING  OBJECTIONS   TO   MAIL   PIECES      59 

It  was  a  compliment  to  me,  because,  as  I  pointed  out  to 
him,  four  of  these  six  pieces  were  written,  designed,  and 
printed  by  my  organization.  He  didn't  know  this  until  I  told 
him.  In  other  words,  these  pieces  were  of  the  sort  which 
I  believe  will  produce  results.     They  were  the  right  sort. 

To  test  the  value  absolutely  of  good  copy  without  de- 
pending in  any  way  on  high  cost  or  unusual  printing,  I  once 
mailed  to  New  England  manufacturers  a  folder  printed  in 
one  color  only  on  plain  tag  board.  The  smallest  possible 
amount  of  money  was  spent  on  the  printing  and  stock,  but 
I  had  a  story  —  a  real  message  —  and  the  piece  produced 
marvelous  results.  It  might  have  been  more  attractive  if 
I  had  printed  it  better  and  illustrated  it.  No  matter  how 
well  I  printed  it,  it  would  not  have  produced  results  if  there 
had  not  been  a  point  of  appeal. 

Although  the  subject  matter  of  this  folder  was  an  adver- 
tisement of  my  own  business,  nevertheless  to  illustrate  the 
point  it  is  printed  below.  Here  is  a  real  story  which  has  an 
appeal  and  which  secured  results  without  the  aid  of  expensive 
pictures,  printing,  or  paper.  It  stayed  out  of  enough  waste 
baskets  to  make  it  profitable. 


MY  EXPERIENCE 


You  would  not  select  a  salesman  by  a  "  pig  in  the  bag " 
method.  You  would  inquire  into  his  experience,  his  ability  to 
sell  goods,  his  recommendations.  You  would  look  him  over 
critically. 

In  offering  my  services  as  a  sales  and  advertising  manager, 
my  business  history  may  be  of  interest. 

1889-1890     Traveling  salesman  in  New  England. 
1891-1894     Yale  University.      Graduated  from  course 
in  mechanical  engineering. 

Same  time,  and  continuing  four  years,  started  and  published  a  maga- 
zine for  a  college  fraternity.  Was  the  whole  thing,  editor,  publisher,  and  chief 
contributor.     Incidentally  I  earned  money  writing  advertisements  for  retailers. 


6o  SCIENTIFIC  SALES  MANAGEMENT 

1894-1899  Traveling  salesman  calling  on  wholesale 
and  retail  grocers. 

1899-1904  Secretary  and  treasurer  of  large  wholesale 
firm. 

It  was  here  that  I  began  advertising  for  big  results.  Our  trade  mail 
list  was  2000.  For  one  year  we  sent  out  mail  cards,  then  a  paper  called 
Hoyt's  Band  Wagon.  It  was  a  cheap  affair,  but  it  did  things.  Within  two 
years  we  increased  the  business  from  $300,000.00  per  year  to  $550,000.00.  I 
advertised  one  of  our  branded  articles  direct  to  the  consumers,  using  news- 
papers and  street  cars.  I  had  the  advertising  bee  in  my  bonnet.  I  wanted 
to  devote  all  my  time  to  it.  When  the  railroad  bought  the  entire  plant,  I 
decided  it  was  a  good  time  to  start. 

Since  1903  I  have  directed  the  sales  and  advertising  for 
George  B.  Woolson  and  Company,  publishers  of  personal  ac- 
count books. 

The  advertisements  that  I  have  written  for  them  have  paid.  Four 
"ads"  in  Everybody's  cost  $1300.00.  We  had  our  money  back  in  three 
months  and  the  rest  was  velvet  and  on  a  single  $1.50  book.  To  1500  retail 
booksellers  and  stationers  we  sent  eight  times  a  year  a  manila  folder,  called 
Woolson's  Talk.  It  carried  with  it  a  reply  postal.  It  cost  $25.00  to  print 
and  mail  it.  Of  26  issues  mailed,  everyone  has  shown  a  profit  from  direct 
orders.  The  September  1 906  issue  brought  back  in  direct  orders  on  the  postal 
over  $325.00  in  orders;  profit  easily  $200.00. 

1904  Arranged  to  open  an  advertising  office  in  New 
York.  Armour  &  Company  crossed  my  path.  They  offered 
me  a  job.  I  declined.  The  boss  telegraphed  me  to  come  to 
Chicago  at  his  expense.     I  went.     I  took  the  job. 

1904  Nine  months  Manager  Branch  House  Armour  & 
Company,  New  Haven,  Conn.  Appointed  Superintendent  of 
1 4  houses  —  later  1 7  houses. 

I  was  in  sole  charge  of  their  business  in  my  part  of  the  country.  I 
employed  all  the  men.  My  force  included  50  managers  and  salesmen. 
Armour  &  Company  are  the  biggest  in  their  line.  They  deserve  this  position 
because  they  know  how  to  do  business.  I  learned  a  lot  from  them.  Business 
grew  in  my  territory  —  so  did  my  salary.  All  conceivable  plans  were  followed 
to  boom  business  on  Star  Hams,  Simon  Pure  Lard,  Armour's  Soaps.  Extract 
of  Beef,  Veribest  Canned  Meats,  Mince  Meat,  etc.  I  issued  weekly  bulletins, 
salesmen's  papers,  ginger  talks,  held  conventions  and  met  bodies  of  salesmen 
all  over  the  territory.  I  ran  direct  to  trade  campaigns  mailing  to  all  the  retail 
dealers,  strong  business-bringing  stuff. 

The  more  success  I  had,  the  more  I  was  convinced  that  I 
should  devote  my  time  exclusively  to  advertising  and  sales.  I 
had  the  fever,  chronic  of  15  years  standing.  It  burned  me 
up.      I  had  been  handling  big  things  —  sales  over  four  million 


MEETING   OBJECTIONS   TO   MAIL   PIECES    6i 

per  year.  To  specialize  on  sales  and  advertising,  to  drop  all 
the  other  details,  was  my  ambition.  The  time  seemed  ripe  — 
I  resigned. 

April  3,  1909,  I  hung  out  my  sign  thus, 
CHARLES  W.  HOYT 
CONSULTING  SALES  AND  ADVERTISING  MANAGER 


When  you  are  doing  co-operative  work  by  mail  do  not 
think  too  much  about  the  people  who  do  not  read  your 
advertising.  Your  concern  is  with  those  who  do  read  it. 
It  isn't  how  many  calls  a  salesman  makes.  It  is  how  many 
sales  he  makes.  Read  over  the  previous  chapter.  Consider 
this  automobile  sales  problem.  I  estimate  only  one  per 
cent  of  answers.  I  know  this  is  too  low  because  I  have 
actual  cases  to  prove  it,  but  I  can  afford  to  be  satisfied  with 
one  per  cent  (if  I  really  cannot  secure  more).  I  know  that 
this  one  per  cent  will  make  me  money.  Now  why  throw 
away  these  good  results  just  because  of  a  possible  99  out  of 
a  100  who  did  not  answer. 

Do  not  be  too  sure,  moreover,  that  the  "99"  have  thrown 
away  your  pieces  and  forgotten  you.  One  day  a  mail  card 
came  to  my  desk  from  a  nearby  city.  I  went  to  see  the 
inquirer  myself  and  sold  him  over  $500  worth  of  work  at 
that  first  call.  I  was  curious  to  learn  at  about  what  time 
he  had  received  my  mail  piece.  I  could  not  find  his  name 
on  the  active  list,  but  I  found  it  in  our  inactive  or  rejected 
Kst.  His  card  showed  that,  seven  months  before  the  day 
he  had  mailed  back  the  inquiry,  the  folder  which  carried 
the  reply  card  had  been  sent  to  him.  He  was  one  of  the 
"99."  I  have  seen  scores  of  cases  of  calls  on  this  "99" 
—  the  people  who  have  not  replied.  Weeks  and  months 
after  the  mailing  has  stopped,  salesmen  have  called  and  sold 
them,  often  seeing  evidence  of  the  influence  of  the  mail 
co-operation. 


62  SCIENTIFIC  SALES   MANAGEMENT 

Sometimes  objections  are  made  to  the  use  of  mail  pieces, 
like  folders  and  cards,  because  they  go  out  with  a  one  cent 
stamp.  It  is  my  opinion  that  letters  in  an  envelope  under 
two  cent  stamp  should  be  used  also,  but  they  do  not  take 
the  place  of  the  folders.  Moreover,  I  am  thoroughly  of  the 
opinion,  based  on  many  tests,  that  one  cent  folders,  if  mailed 
to  the  proi^cr  sort  of  people  and  with  the  right  sort  of  story, 
will  bring  a  response  equal  to  those  received  by  two  cent 
letters  under  the  same  conditions.  Just  because  you  place 
an  ordinary  advertisement  in  an  envelope,  having  it  mas- 
querade as  a  letter,  seal  it  up,  and  place  a  two  cent  stamp 
on  the  envelope  is  no  assurance  that  it  will  be  read  any  more 
than  a  folder.     Why? 

Because,  for  one  thing,  the  recipient  is  a  bit  annoyed  to 
open  it  and  discover  an  ordinary  advertisement.  It  depends 
after  all  whether  you  send  out  a  good  letter  or  a  good  folder. 
The  stamp  does  not  make  any  difference.  If  you  have  an 
ordinary  advertisement  do  not  attempt  to  disguise  it  in  the 
form  of  a  letter. 

Better  make  up  an  attractive  mail  piece  with  an  illustra- 
tion of  the  article  to  be  sold.  Print  it  well,  using  a  good 
color  combination,  and  you  will  secure  the  required  attention. 
Securing  interest,  desire,  and  ultimate  action  by  the  use  of 
forcible  English  is  then  up  to  you. 

If  you  cannot  do  this  in  the  folder,  you  cannot  do  it  in  the 
letter,  no  matter  if  you  place  a  ten  cent  stamp  on  it.  The 
less  a  man  knows  about  advertising  based  on  actual  experi- 
ence with  it,  the  more  apt  he  is  to  put  up  this  one  cent 
versus  two  cent  argument. 

Write  your  co-operative  sales  talk  just  as  you  would  talk 
to  the  person.  He  will  read  your  story,  provided  you  have 
one  worth  reading  or  listening  to,  without  much  reference  to 
whether  it  goes  out  in  the  form  of  a  letter  or  a  folder. 


The  Function  of  Salesmen  in 
an  Advertising  Campaign 


Chapter    VIII 

"The  Function  of  Salesmen  in 
an  Advertising  Campaign 

CONSIDER  the  history  of  any  great  advertising  suc- 
cess (excluding  mail  order  campaigns)  and  look  into 
the  inside  of  it.  You  can't  find  a  single  such  great 
success  without  finding  alongside  of  the  advertising,  as  good 
as  it  may  be,  an  equally  well-conceived  sales  plan  or  use  of 
salesmen.     I  make  this  statement  advisedly. 

The  bigger  and  better  the  advertising  has  been,  even  so 
much  the  bigger  and  better  has  been  the  salesmen's  work 
and  the  sales  plan  behind  it. 

I  have  knowTi  and  participated  in  many,  but  never  has 
there  been  any  real  success  obtained  without  good  intelligent 
work  by  the  sales  force. 

The  advertising  to  the  consumer  is  important,  but  equally 
important  is  the  work  that  the  advertiser  does  with  his  own 
salesmen.  If  you  are  considering  advertising  an  article 
which  is  to  be  sold  to  the  consumer  by  retailers,  look  well  to 
your  sales  plan  before  you  start.  If  you  propose  to  sell 
direct  to  the  jobber,  you  still  need  intelligent  sales  work. 
The  important  thing  is  to  link  all  the  factors  together.  In 
conducting  an  advertising  campaign  arrange  so  that  every 
salesman  is  thoroughly  informed  in  full  detail  of  the  adver- 
tising plan.  This  sounds  almost  too  elementary  to  mention, 
yet  it  is  constantly  ignored  by  advertisers. 


66 


SCIENTIFIC  SALES  MANAGEMENT 


To  illustrate.  I  talked  last  December  to  the  New  York 
salesman  for  a  large  advertiser.  This  advertiser  featured 
in  his  consumer  advertising,  month  after  month,  different 


styles  of  his  goods.  The  salesman  complained  to  me  because 
he  had  not  received  advance  proofs  since  September,  or  three 
months  before.  He  showed  most  conclusively  that  he  had 
made  many  sales  of  styles  as  results  of  having  proofs,  and 


FUNCTIOxX   OF   S.\LESMEN  67 

that  he  could  seU  by  the  means  of  advance  proofs  those  goods 
which  were  to  appear  in  the  advertising.  Nobody  had  made 
it  his  duty  to  supply  the  traveling  men  regularly  with 
proofs,  and  for  that  reason  this  New  York  man  had  not 
received  them.  It  should  have  been  made  a  part  of  the 
formal  plan  at  the  beginning. 

I  will  give  here  a  list  of  the  things  which  ought  to  be  con- 
sidered with  reference  to  salesmen  when  advertising. 

I.  Typewritten  Letter.  Very  often,  particularly  with  a 
small  sales  force,  tyi^ewritten  letters  will  serve  to  carry 
advertising  news  and  to  keep  the  salesmen  interested.  I  do 
not  refer  to  letters  on  sales,  but  to  letters  which  are  virtually 
bulletins  of  the  advertising.  In  making  up  the  formal  plan 
it  is  well  to  provide  for  a  certain  number  of  letters  and  to  set 
the  dates  for  their  niaiUng.  This  insures  getting  them  out 
and  is  much  better  than  leaving  the  matter  to  chance, 

II.  Mimeograph  Bulletins.  These  have  enormous  possi- 
bilities. I  believe  in  them  thoroughly.  I  have  generally 
used  these  with  illustrations.  It  is  easy  to  put  pictures  on 
them  and  it  livens  up  the  copy.  One  of  my  old  associates 
used  illustrated  mimeograph  bulletins  to  bolster  up  the  sales 
of  his  department.  His  concern  had  about  tw^o  thousand 
men  selling  goods.  His  department  was  a  minor  one  among 
a  score.  Yet  within  a  year  he  secured  enormous  response 
from  the  sales  force  as  the  result  of  his  unique  announcements. 
These  bulletins  are  taken  up  and  discussed  in  a  later  chapter. 

III.  Proofs  of  Advertisements.  These  can  be  published  in 
a  book  or  pamphlet  form  or  they  can  be  sent  loose  from  time 
to  time  as  they  are  received  from  the  various  publications. 

IV.  Mail  Pieces.  If  the  advertiser  is  mailing  folders, 
cards,  etc.,  to  the  trade,  every  salesman  should  receive  copies 
of  these  pieces. 

V.  Contest  Bulletins.  Salesmen's  contests  are  often  valu- 
able factors  of  an  advertising  campaign.     If  contests  are  to 


()S 


sfii'M'iiR'  saij:s  maxa(;i:.mi-:\t 


Examples  of  mimeographed  bulletins  sent  to  sales  force  of  2,000  men. 


FUNCTION  OF   SALESMEN 


69 


These  mimeograph   bulletins   were  made   up   weekly   and   mailed   to 
2,000  salesmen. 


70 


SCIENTIFIC   SALES   MANAGEMENT 


W  run,  bulletins  should  be  issued  regularly  for  the  salesmen. 
I  will  speak  of  the  use  of  contests  in  a  later  chapter. 


Examples  of  daily  and  weekly  reports  for  salesmen  as  mentioned  in 
article  6. 


FUNCTION  OF   SALESMEN  71 

VI.  Reports  for  Salesmen.  As  distinct  from  their  regular 
orders  and  reports,  it  is  a  very  good  thing  to  provide  blanks 
on  which  salesmen  report  sales  of  the  advertised  articles. 
It  is  a  stimulant  to  the  men  as  well  as  valuable  information. 
Of  course  the  information  could  be  (and  should  be)  obtained 
from  sales  records,  but  the  asking  of  the  salesmen  to  make 
special  reports  on  something  being  featured  always  helps 
the  sales. 

VII.  Meetings  of  Salesmen.  At  the  beginning  of  a  cam- 
paign, and  sometimes  later,  meetings  or  conventions  are 
most  beneficial.     I  shall  say  more  on  this  subject  later. 

VIII.  Proofs  of  Local  Ads.  Provide  salesmen  with  a  book 
in  which  are  proofs  of  advertisements  which  may  be  used 
by  the  local  dealer  in  his  newspaper. 

IX.  Mailing  Lists.  Supply  your  salesmen  with  copies  of 
the  mailing  list  to  which  you  are  sending  printed  matter. 
Instruct  them  to  report  on  this  in  two  ways.  Let  them 
send  in  a  report  for  your  mailing  department  covering  the 
accuracy  of  the  list,  using  some  such  form  as  is  shown  here. 
Then,  in  addition  to  this  report,  you  can  have  a  regular  sales 
report  sent  in  telling  what  they  were  able  to  accomphsh  as  a 
result  of  the  call. 

X.  Copies  of  Inquiries.  A  duplicate  or  triplicate  form 
should  be  provided.  When  making  records  of  inquiries, 
either  from  retailers  or  from  consumers  (which  may  be  re- 
ferred to  local  retailers),  provide  a  carbon  duplicate  and  send 
to  salesmen  covering  locality  where  inquirers  live.  Salesmen 
can  keep  their  records  by  towns  and  use  them  when  in  such 
towns.  It  also  serves  to  show  salesmen  that  the  adver- 
tising is  really  doing  things. 

Do  not  under  any  consideration  engage  in  advertising 
without  availing  yourself  of  maximum  co-operation  from 
the  sales  force.  You  can  secure  it  if  you  go  about  it 
correctly  and  in  the  right  spirit. 


How   to    Secure    the    SalesmerP  s 

Co-operation  in  an  Advertising 

Campaign 


Chapter  IX 

How    to    Secure    the    Salesmen^ s 

Co-operation  in  an  Advertising 

Campaign 


o 


N  the  wall  of  my  den  at  home  hangs  a  hand  illumined 
motto  which  reads: 

"We  are  all  children  in  the  Kindergarten  of  God." 


And  so,  too,  salesmen  are  all  boys,  big  boys  grown  up,  but 
with  the  boy's  fine  instincts.  You  may  have  to  dig  to  find 
those  instincts  in  some  salesmen,  but  they  are  there.  And 
the  better  boy  a  salesman  was,  the  better  salesman  he  is 
now. 

If  you  can  put  into  the  day's  work  something  of  interest, 
something  that  partakes  of  the  spirit  of  the  game  or  sport, 
the  work  goes  easier.     The  results  are  much  larger. 

In  Connecticut,  located  up  in  the  hills,  outside  of  a  large 
city,  I  own  a  piece  of  land.  At  times  we  go  there  for 
picnics  or  frolics.  There  are  many  stones  in  the  lot,  which 
is  typical  of  Connecticut.  Suppose  that  there  is  a  pile  of 
stones  in  a  certain  part  of  the  lot  which  I  desire  to  move  one 
hundred  feet  away  —  say  over  the  fence  into  the  next  field. 
If  I  asked  one  of  my  salesmen  to  go  out  there  to  move 
those  stones,  he  would  think  I  was  unreasonable. 

Suppose,  however,  I  invite  several  of  the  salesmen  out 
there  for  an  outing.  During  the  day  I  go  to  the  pile  of  stones, 
pick  up  one,  throw  it  and  try  to  hit  a  can  perched  on  the 


76  SCIENTIFIC   SALES   MANAGEMENT 

fence  one  liundred  feet  away.  I  miss,  but  I  try  again. 
Along  comes  one  man  laughing  at  me.  He  says  he  can  beat 
me  as  a  marksman.  Then  another  of  the  party  joins  us. 
Soon  all  are  busy  throwing  stones  at  the  mark.  It  is  not 
long  before  all  the  stones  are  located  where  I  wanted  them  to 
be,  and  the  men  are  trying  to  find  more  stones  to  throw.  I 
do  not  bring  up  this  figure  to  show  that  I  deceived  the  man, 
but  to  illustrate  the  spirit  of  the  game  which  entered  into  it. 

I  have  always  believed  that  you  can  secure  a  lot  of  fun 
from  selling  goods.  But  salesmen,  like  ourselves,  are  big 
grown  up  boys.  They  need  a  ringleader  to  start  the  game. 
By  nature  all  of  us  are  good  sports;  we  all  enjoy  a  game. 
Something  that  creates  competition  is  necessary  to  make 
the  game  enjoyable.  We  can  play  golf  alone,  but  it's  the 
playing  against  bogey  or  our  own  previous  score  which  makes 
it  a  real  game.  We  enjoy  the  game  even  more  if  we  have 
two  or  three  competitors. 

Keeping  salesmen  interested  is  the  problem  of  every  sales 
manager.  It  is  of  vital  importance  when  advertising  is  being 
considered.  "How  shall  I  secure  the  salesmen's  co-opera- 
tion?" is  the  question  which  confronts  many  an  advertising 
manager.  The  part  which  the  salesman  plays  in  an  adver- 
tising campaign  is  just  as  important  as  the  consumer  adver- 
tising or  the  appeal  to  the  retailer.  To  be  without  the 
salesmen's  intelligent  co-operation  means  failure  to  secure 
anywhere  near  maximum  results. 

Do  not  understand  that  it  is  merely  sufficient  to  secure 
the  salesman's  interest  and  enthusiasm.  As  has  been 
pointed  out  by  the  advocates  of  Scientific  Management, 
this  has  been  the  trouble  with  the  old  types  of  management. 
It  has  been  the  practise  to  go  ahead  with  the  idea  that  all 
which  was  needed  was  to  secure  the  salesman's  interest  and 
his  initiative,  basing  this  assumption  on  the  idea  that  the 
man  already  knows  what  is  the  best  way  to  proceed.     The 


SECURING  SALESMEN'S   CO-OPERATION      77 

things  which  I  discuss  here  as  a  means  to  securing  the  sales- 
man's co-operation  will  also  be  of  use  in  teaching  him  the 
right  way. 

I  would  divide  the  methods  to  be  employed  into  five  parts ; 
namely: 

1.  Meetings,  councils,  or  conventions. 

2.  Letters  to  salesmen. 

3.  Bulletins,  printed,  typewritten,  etc. 

4.  Reports  of  Comparative  Results,  which  really  are  a  part  of  No.  3. 

5.  Salesmen's  contests. 

Some  of  these  are  taken  up  separately  in  other  chapters. 
The  Ust  represents  about  all  the  things  at  the  disposal  of 
the  sales  and  advertising  manager. 

It  is  almost  useless  to  divide  the  work  of  these  two  officials. 
You  can't  separate  the  sales  from  the  advertising.  They 
belong  together.  They  are  one.  If  there  are  two  men,  one 
the  sales  manager  and  the  other  the  advertising  manager, 
they  must  pull  together.  Indeed  I  favor  the  having  of  one 
office  or  having  it  so  arranged  that  either  the  sales  or  the 
advertising  manager  is  the  head  of  the  department.  Then 
the  other  man  is  his  assistant  and  constant  fellow-worker. 
In  some  organizations  it  is  understood  that  the  advertising 
manager  is  also  the  assistant  sales  manager,  and  vice  versa. 
They  are  members  of  the  same  department. 

The  use  of  meetings,  councils,  etc.,  is  a  great  help  in  hand- 
ling salesmen.     This  subject  is  treated  in  another  chapter. 

Under  letters  might  be  included  the  so-called  "ginger 
talks."  This  subject  is  treated  in  another  chapter.  To 
secure  a  man's  co-operation  you  must  take  him  into  your 
confidence,  keeping  him  well  posted,  informed,  and  enthused. 
Letters  are  one  way  to  do  this.  When  a  salesman  is  out  on 
the  road  or  working  in  a  store,  you  may  be  sure  that  he  is  a 
much  better  salesman  if  he  reahzes  that  his  good  work  is 
seen  and  appreciated,  or  his  poor  work  noticed. 


7S  SCIENTIFIC   SALES   MANAGEMENT 

I  have  always  been  a  great  believer  in  sending  an  actual 
personal  letter  to  the  different  salesmen.  There  is  nothing 
difficult  about  this  if  you  have  a  good  office  organization. 
You  need  a  competent  stenographer  who  can  take  instruc- 
tions with  a  few  words. 

To  illustrate.  At  one  time  I  had  about  seventy-five -sales- 
men. My  stenographer  had  a  list  of  these  names.  It  was 
divided  into  various  kinds  and  classes. 

With  only  a  few  words  from  me  the  stenographer  could 
address  any  particular  class  wanted.  It  took  only  a  few 
minutes  for  me  to  dictate  a  letter,  telling  the  stenographer 
to  send  it  to  such  and  such  a  class  (for  instance,  men 
who  had  sold  the  past  week  sixty  per  cent  of  a  certain 
article,   etc.,  etc.). 

Our  records  on  Monday  were  always  in  complete  form. 
On  that  morning  my  assistant  would  dig  out  the  names  of 
those  w^ho  had  done  particularly  well  on  some  article.  Then 
my  stenographer  would  run  off  a  ten  or  fifteen  word  note  to 
each,  which  I  signed.  Thus:  "Mr.  Jones,  you  certainly 
did  well  with  those  cambrics  last  week.  I  am  watching  yoiir 
good  work."  On  the  other  hand,  we  often  had  salesmen 
who  didn't  make  a  good  showing  during  a  certain  period. 
To  these  I'd  write  a  different  note.  Thus:  "Jones,  did  you 
forget  us  last  week?  I  cannot  secure  desired  results  if  men 
like  you  do  not  help.  Please  write  me  and  tell  me  W'hat  is 
the  trouble." 

It  was  a  favorite  play  of  mine  to  take  telegraph  blanks 
and  wTite  a  note  of  a  dozen  words  on  them  with  a  lead  pencil. 
This  was  in  my  own  handwriting.  I'd  mail  them  to  the 
salesmen.  It's  easy.  You  may  have  plenty  of  other  things 
to  do,  but  it  can  be  done  and  it  secures  what  you  are  after; 
namely,  the  co-operation  of  salesmen.  Once  we  had  a  big 
prize  contest.  It  embraced  the  United  States  and  over  two 
thousand  salesmen  took  part.     I  picked  four  of  my  men 


SECURING   SALESMEN'S   CO-OPERATION       79 

whom  I  believe  were  possible  winners  of  this  contest.  To 
each  one  I  sent  a  rough  pencil  note  about  Like  this,  "Dear 
Jones —  I  am  depending  on  you  in  this  prize  contest.  Please 
do  your  best.".  Incidentally,  I  might  tell  you  here  that  one 
of  these  four  men  took  second  prize  for  the  country.  He 
sent  me  back  a  similar  note  and  said  he'd  try.  Trying 
meant  an  enormous  amount  of  work,  but  he  did  it. 

Bulletins  of  Comparative  Results:  Regularly  on  Mondays 
we  always  had  reports  from  our  different  branch  houses 
showing  the  amount  of  various  articles  sold.  From  these 
reports  we  made  up  a  mimeograph  bulletin  showing  in  various 
columns  the  sales  of  certain  specialties  by  branch  houses  and 
by  salesmen.  For  over  five  years  we  sent  out  these  bulletins 
each  week.  The  entire  force  was  interested  in  them.  Each 
man  was  keen  to  see  his  position  or  the  position  of  his  branch 
house.  We  changed  the  articles  Hsted  from  time  to  time, 
making  a  feature  of  the  thing  we  wished  most  to  push. 

Sometimes  it  is  difficult  to  convince  an  old  firm  that  such 
bulletins  are  good.  Indeed  there  are  some  good  objections. 
For  instance,  these  bulletins  may  give  too  much  information 
to  competitors.  On  that  account  I  really  prefer  the  cjuota 
system  described  in  another  chapter. 

I  find  sometimes  that  old  firms  disUke  to  do  these  things 
because  it  might  offend  some  salesmen.  I  don't  believe  it 
will  hurt  the  right  sort  of  salesmen.  The  fellows  who  will 
object  to  this  sort  of  thing  are  in  my  opinion  those  who  are 
afraid  of  their  positions  —  the  men  who  are  in  a  rut  and  fear 
being  shown  up. 

Furthermore,  and  best  of  all,  these  things  all  add  to  the 
selling  that  desirable  spirit  of  the  game  and  competition. 
The  horse  makes  the  best  record  when  it  has  a  pace  maker. 
Men  do  better  if  they  are  paced.  The  sprinter  does  better 
in  competition  than  in  practise.  We  all  need  it  —  either  in 
business  or  in  a  game. 


So 


SCIENTIFIC  SALES  MANAGEMENT 


Examples  of  printed  house  organs  or  bulletins  for  use  with  salesmen. 


SECURING   SALESMEN'S   CO-OPERATION      8i 

Many  golfers  coming  in  with  a  poor  score  will  explain  it 
by  the  fact  that  their  opponents  were  not  good  enough  to 
push  them.  The  player  really  tries  to  do  his  best,  but  he 
needs  hard  competition  to  achieve  it. 

Another  bulletin  which  may  be  used  and  which  is  dis- 
tinctive from  the  letters  or  from  the  tables  of  results  is  a 
bulletin  giving  general  information.  These  may  be  printed 
where  there  is  a  large  body  of  salesmen,  or  in  the  case  of  a 
small  organization  may  be  mimeographed.  Some  ten  years 
ago  I  was  making  up  a  salesman's  mimeograph  bulletin. 
It  occurred  to  me  that  by  the  means  of  a  needle  or  stylus  a 
picture  might  be  drawn  on  a  wax  stencil.  We  tried  it  with 
great  success.  I  had  never  seen  it  before  and  believe  it  was 
the  first  use  of  such  work.  This  was  the  beginning  of  illus- 
trated bulletins  in  my  sales  work.  From  that  time  I  always 
placed  pictures  on  my  salesmen's  bulletins.  I  beheve  they 
add  a  lot  to  the  value.  You  can  make  them  resemble  a 
magazine  or  newspaper.  The  illustrations  on  the  pages 
following  show  some  of  the  possibilities. 

The  printed  house  organ  or  bulletin  is  excellent,  but  is 
practical  only  for  a  large  organization.  The  illustrations 
shown  are  very  successful  ones.  The  use  of  the  Quizzer  was 
to  cover  the  United  States.  The  country  was  divided  into 
twenty-seven  sales  territories,  of  about  fifteen  Branch 
Houses  each.  A  superintendent  was  in  charge  of  each 
Territory.  The  plan  was  to  play  one  Territory  against  the 
other  and  to  feature  the  superintendent  who  won.  The 
results  were  figured  on  a  quota  basis,  which  was  based  on 
the  business  of  previous  years.  The  publication  wasn't 
very  expensive,  considering  the  size  of  the  sales,  but  it 
produced  enormous  results  and  interest. 

Of  course  the  use  of  mail  pieces  mailed  to  the  trade  is  a 
great  feature  in  securing  the  salesmen's  co-operation.  They 
appreciate  this  work,  particularly  after  they  see  results  such 


82 


SCIENTIFIC  SALES  MANAGEMENT 


Examples  of  bulletins  issued  to  secure  a  salesman's  interest. 


SECURING  SALESMEN'S   CO-OPERATION      83 


1 


Crude  yet  effective  bulletins  for  holding  the  salesman's  interest  in  an 
advertising  campaign. 


84  SCIENTIFIC  SALES  MANAGEMENT 

as  inquiries.  This  sort  of  work  is  taken  up  in  a  number  of 
other  chapters. 

A  very  gootl  iUust ration  of  the  vakie  of  mail  pieces  to  help 
salesmen  is  that  of  the  work  done  by  a  publishing  house. 
They  manufacture  a  cash  book  for  keeping  personal  house- 
hold accounts  which  is  sold  by  the  bookseller  and  stationers. 
For  sbc  years  they  have  mailed  out  about  eight  mail  pieces 
per  year  to  the  retail  trade. 

These  mail  pieces  have  always  of  themselves  paid;  that 
is,  they  have  secured  enough  direct  orders  to  be  profitable. 
At  the  same  time,  their  work  has  been  of  great  help  to  the 
salesmen  who  call  on  stationers  and  booksellers.  The  adver- 
tising has  always  been  done  by  the  author.  At  least  twenty- 
five  times  in  a  few  years  a  letter  something  like  the  following 
has  come  to  me  from  a  salesman : 

Mr.  Hoyt:  The  names  which  I  enclose  have  not  been  receiving 
Woolson^s  Talks.  They  are  not  on  our  maihng  hst.  I  couldn't  sell 
them,  but  if  j'ou  will  put  them  on  the  list  I  am  sure  I  can  sell  them  on 
the  next  trip. 

To  illustrate  what  sort  of  talk  went  out  in  these  bulletins, 
I  give  below  three  paragraphs  from  one  issued  some  years  ago. 
This  was  printed  on  ordinary  tag  board  in  one  color.  At- 
tached to  the  folder  was  a  reply  postal.  This  particular  issue 
from  which  these  three  paragraphs  are  taken  went  to  1500 
names  and  cost  approximately  $30.  Orders  to  the  extent  of 
$112  were  received  on  the  reply  postal. 

The  last  issue  of  Woolson's  Talks  bore  much  fruit.  We  are  inclined 
to  shake  the  same  tree  again.  There  are  at  least  one  thousand  stationers 
and  booksellers  on  our  list,  from  whom  an  order  is  due.  The  hardest 
thing  is  to  secure  the  first  order.  If  the  writer  could  only  meet  each 
stationer  face  to  face,  he  feels  sure  he  could  sell  ninety  per  cent  of  them. 
He  might  be  a  failure  selling  something  else,  but  on  Woolson's  Economy 
Expense  Book  he  is  so  full  of  enthusiasm,  confidence,  and  knowledge  of 
their  seUing  qualities,  that  failure  would  be  almost  impossible. 


SECURING  SALESMEN'S   CO-OPERATION      85 

Since  our  last  issue  we  have  heard  from  a  large  number  of  our  good 
friends.  Henry  R.  Johnson,  of  Springfield,  Mass.,  sends  an  order  for  50 
Economy  Expense  Books  and  24  of  the  25-cent  books,  telling  us  that  our 
books  continue  to  sell  as  well  as  ever.  The  Plimpton  Mfg.  Co.,  of  Hart- 
ford, send  an  order  for  three  dozen,  telhng  us  to  be  sure  and  send  more 
sample  page  circulars.  They  say,  "Every  time  we  mail  out  your  circu- 
lars, we  sell  a  lot  of  books."  The  Burrows  Brothers  Co.  order  100 
Economy  Expense  Books  and  100  of  the  little  books.  They  ordered 
100  last  year  and  write  that  they  have  sold  all  of  them,  besides  several 
smaller  orders  that  they  have  sent  since.  From  Boston  we  received 
orders  aggregating  200  books  from  Samuel  Ward  Co.,  Hobbs  &  Warren 
Co.,  and  Thorp  &  Martin  Co.  These  Boston  people  know  how  our 
books  sell.  Millington  Lockwood,  of  Buffalo,  Nims  &  Paaschen,  of  Troy, 
WilHam  G.  Johnston  &  Co.,  of  Pittsburg,  and  over  twenty  others  sent 
us  large  orders.  Best  of  all,  they  each  send  encouraging  letters  commend- 
ing our  books.  They  are  all  good  friends  on  whom  we  can  depend  for 
business,  yet  we  have  never  personally  met  one  quarter  of  them. 

We  want  your  order.  Even  if  it  is  only  for  6  books,  send  in  the 
order.  With  an  order  for  6  books  we  will  furnish  you  250  sample  page 
circulars  printed  in  three  colors,  bearing  your  imprint.  We  will  give 
you  S33  per  cent  discount  and  prepay  the  express. 

Some  of  my  readers  will  ask  here,  what  sort  of  a  salesman 
is  it  who  cannot  go  into  a  store,  present  his  card,  and  sell  his 
product  except  when  the  dealer  has  been  hearing  of  it  for  a 
long  time  through  the  mail  or  in  some  other  way. 

He  is  just  the  same  as  any  other  salesman;  that  is,  he  is 
an  average  salesman.  Send  him  out  without  any  prelimi- 
nary work  (where  product  of  firm  is  new  to  the  prospect)  and 
you  curtail  the  results  of  his  work  a  great  many  times.  These 
Woolson  men  have  time  and  time  again  demonstrated  this 
to  me. 

So  it  is  in  the  case  of  my  present  business  of  service  in 
advertising  and  selling.  I  would  not  think  of  personally 
calling  on  a  firm  without  first  sending  preliminary  mail 
pieces.  So  far  as  average  salesmen  are  concerned,  in  my 
business  their  results  are  increased  certainly  ten  fold  by  work 
in  advance. 


86  SCIENTIFIC  SALES  MANAGEMENT 

The  use  of  contests  to  aid  in  securing  salesmen's  co-opera- 
tion is  discussed  in  a  later  chapter.  You  must  sell  your 
advertising  first  to  the  salesman.  If  a  salesman  believes 
in  his  advertised  goods  and  believes  in  the  advertising  itself, 
he  can  accomplish  big  things.  You  must  realize  that  the 
average  retail  merchant  is  not  particularly  keen  on  adver- 
tising —  partictdarly  national  advertising.  Frequently  he 
throws  cold  water  on  it  when  a  salesman  attempts  to  talk 
about  it.  You  should  sell  your  advertising  to  your  salesmen 
if  you  expect  them,  to  sell  it  to  the  retailer. 

One  of  the  hardest  things  that  I  have  to  do  is  to  talk 
to  a  body  of  salesmen  for  the  first  time,  asking  them  for 
co-operation  on  an  advertising  campaign.  I  can  see  the 
pitchers  of  ice  water  in  their  hands.  I  can  see  them  glance 
knowingly  at  each  other  as  I  talk.  But  once  convince  them 
that  you  understand  your  business,  that  you  know  what 
you  are  talking  about,  that  you  have  been  through  the  mill 
yourself,  and  that  you  can  do  the  very  things  that  you  are 
asking  them  to  do,  then  they  will  join  with  you  and  work  hard 
for  you.  There  is  no  finer  body  of  men  in  the  world  than  the 
salesmen  who  travel  the  United  States.  Show  them;  explain 
what  you  are  trying  to  accomplish  and  why;  make  them 
see  and  beheve  in  it,  then  you  will  have  their  co-operation. 

In  other  words,  first  sell  them  your  goods,  then  sell  them 
your  advertising.  In  turn  they  will  sell  to  the  trade  with 
the  best  arguments  which  you  have  given  them.  These 
same  argimients,  if  you  have  handled  the  details  properly, 
will  be  left  by  the  salesmen  and  your  sales  aids  with  the 
merchant  and  the  clerks,  who  in  turn  will  pass  them  along 
to  the  consumer. 

Don't  think,  don't  hope  that  advertising  can  supplant  or 
take  the  place  of  salesmen.  Use  all  three  —  advertising, 
salesmen,  and  the  retailer.  Then  you  are  bound  to  win  the 
consumer. 


Councils^  Meetings^  and 
Conventions  for  Salesmen 


chapter  X 
Councils^   Meetings  J  and 
Conventions  for  Salesmen 

THERE  is  no  more  eflfective  way  to  secure  the  co- 
operation and  confidence  of  salesmen  than  by  the 
use  of  meetings  or  councils. 

Conditions  dififer  in  various  sorts  of  industries  as  to  the 
frequency  with  which  salesmen  may  be  brought  into  the 
home  ofl&ce.  These  things  modify  the  program  as  to  the  use 
of  meetings  with  salesmen. 

Many  Unes  of  business  have  the  salesmen  at  the  home 
office  once  a  week.  In  such  cases  it  pays  to  hold  a  council 
every  Satiu^day.  The  meeting  may  be  short  if  nothing  of 
importance  is  to  be  discussed.  Have  the  sales  results  for 
the  week  in  your  hands  by  noon  of  Saturday.  It  can  be 
done,  if  you  will  insist  upon  it,  and  you  will  then  have  some- 
thing which  is  of  much  use  to  you.  It  doesn't  pay  to  discuss 
results  which  are  too  old. 

About  ten  years  ago  the  writer  was  appointed  manager 
of  a  branch  house  doing  a  business  of  about  $400,000  per 
year.  When  I  arrived  to  take  up  my  position  I  found  a 
great  deal  of  opposition  to  the  new  administration.  This 
appeared  as  an  evidence  of  loyalty  to  the  retiring  (or  rather 
retired)  manager.  I  was  confronted  at  the  outset  by  resigna- 
tions from  men  holding  important  positions.  To  say  the 
least,  I  was  not  popular  as  a  new  manager. 

I  quickly  arranged  for  a  meeting  to  which  I  invited  all 


go  SCIENTIFIC  SALES  MANAGEMENT 

the  salesmen  and  other  important  men.  At  this  meeting 
I  told  them  that  it  was  my  intention  to  make  that  branch 
house  the  best  of  its  kind  in  the  United  States.  I  asked 
them  for  their  co-operation  to  attain  that  result  and  told 
them  how  I  proposed  to  do  it.  I  finally  told  them  that,  if 
any  man  couldn't  give  me  his  co-operation,  to  tender  his 
resignation  at  the  end  of  that  day.     Every  man  stayed. 

Then  followed  a  series  of  Saturday  noon  meetings.  At 
this  house  I  had  the  sales  results  for  the  past  week  made  up 
in  comparison  with  the  same  week  of  a  year  before.  This 
was  drawTi  up  by  departments  showing  comparative  results 
in  at  least  thirty  different  lines.  These  salesmen  were  soon 
even  more  interested  in  the  figures  than  I  was.  They  took 
part  in  the  fight  or  game  and  understood  it.  The  results 
of  nine  months'  work  with  this  organization  were  above 
anything  that  had  ever  been  done  in  this  concern.  Then 
I  was  moved  to  a  larger  field. 

The  weekly  meetings  are  not  always  practical.  Some- 
times it  is  advisable  to  hold  a  meeting  only  once  a  month. 
These  may  be  made  most  profitable,  particularly  if  com- 
parative sales  reports  are  shown.  For  a  period  of  five  years 
I  had  a  group  of  fifteen  sales  managers  meet  once  a  month 
for  an  afternoon  meeting.  These  monthly  meetings  had 
more  to  do  with  the  success  of  the  proposition  than  any 
other  one  thing.  These  managers  represented  fifteen  branch 
houses  and  fifteen  groups  of  their  owti  salesmen. 

One  week  pre\dous  to  the  meeting  I  received  from  the 
bookkeeper  of  each  house  a  comparative  sales  report.  These 
were  assembled  into  a  territory  report  by  my  own  office. 
This  gave  us  a  detailed  statement  of  the  month's  business 
covering  from  fifty  to  sixty  t>^ewTitten  pages.  At  the 
meeting  we  went  over  every  detail  of  business,  taking  up 
every  department  The  results  were  shown  in  two  ways; 
namely,  by  tonnage  and  dollars. 


COUNCILS,   MEETINGS,   AND   CONVENTIONS      91 

To  illustrate  the  method,  suppose,  covering  the  entire 
territory,  we  showed  an  increase  in  some  one  department 
of  350,000  pounds  and  $1800.  I  would  read  over  the  hst  of 
branch  houses,  naming  first  the  house  which  led  in  the 
increase.  I  would  compliment  the  leaders.  Then  I  would 
read  the  names  of  the  houses  who  showed  decreases.  The 
house  which  made  the  poorest  showing  was  called  off  first 
in  these  lists.  To  these  managers  assembled  together  I 
would  say  many  things  quite  bluntly.  I  would  criticize 
severely  those  who  had  fallen  behind,  at  the  same  time 
putting  in  a  good  word  for  those  who  had  gone  ahead.  It 
generally  happened  after  I  had  said  something  critical  about 
a  manager  who  had  fallen  down  in  one  department,  that 
within  a  few  minutes  I  found  another  place  in  which  he 
had  done  well.  Then  I  complimented  him.  These  meetings 
were  very  successful.  All  the  managers  beUeved  in  them,' 
enjoyed  them,  and  looked  forward  to  attending  them. 

Another  excellent  way  of  meetings  for  a  sales  manager  is 
at  hotels  with  groups  of  salesmen.  Often  I  started  off  for  a 
trip  of  a  number  of  days,  during  which  I  held  meetings  in 
different  cities.  I  called  in  all  the  salesmen  within  a  con- 
venient radius  for  an  evening  meeting  at  the  hotel.  We 
generally  talked  up  one  specialty,  depending  on  what  particu- 
lar thing  we  were  advertising  and  featuring. 

In  holding  these,  both  the  hotel  and  the  other  meetings 
with  salesmen,  I  really  carried  out  the  idea  of  the  functional 
foreman  used  in  Scientific  Management.  Nearly  always 
when  holding  such  meetings  I  had  with  me  a  man  who  was 
interested  in  some  particular  department.  He  talked  to 
the  men,  telling  them  how  to  sell  the  goods  which  that  de- 
partment made.  Sometimes  at  salesmen's  meetings  I  have 
had  a  number  of  special  men  who  would  talk  on  various 
phases  of  the  salesman's  problem. 

Suppose,  for  instance,  the  salesman  has  to  be  accountable 


92  SCIENTIFIC  SALES  MANAGEMENT 

for  credits.  The  credit  man  could  very  well  go  before  a 
group  of  salesmen  and  explain  his  point  of  view  and  give 
most  helpful  advice  to  the  salesmen  as  to  how  they  should 
protect  themselves  when  taking  on  new  accounts,  telHng 
them  the  sort  of  information  they  wanted,  etc.,  etc. 

Everybody  may  not  find  it  so,  but  I  have  always  found  it 
easier  to  secure  results  by  talking  to  a  group  of  salesmen 
instead  of  to  one.  Moreover  and  most  important,  to  do  the 
subject  full  justice  would  take  too  much  time  if  each  sales- 
man was  talked  to  separately.  I  believe  in  the  enthusiasm 
of  the  mass  meeting. 


Illustrations  of  Actual  Meetings 
and  Conventions 


chapter  XI 

Illustrations  of  Actual  Meetings 
and  Conventions 

IN  order  to  show  in  a  practical  way  how  different  meet- 
ings and  conventions  are  conducted,  accounts  of 
several  are  given  in  this  chapter. 

A  large  jobber  employing  about  twenty-five  salesmen  was 
about  to  start  a  campaign  on  a  package  food  product.  Ad- 
vertising this  product  was  a  new  idea.  In  all  probability 
not  one  in  five  of  his  salesmen  really  believed  it  was  a  judi- 
cious use  of  the  money.  The  advertising  was  to  appear  in 
newspapers,  street  cars,  and  on  the  billboards.  After  the 
newspaper  advertising  had  appeared  about  sixty  days,  large 
space  was  to  be  used  in  which  would  appear  the  names  of 
all  the  retail  distributors  in  the  towns  served  by  each 
newspaper. 

A  meeting  of  the  salesmen  was  called  for  a  Saturday  after- 
noon in  the  general  offices  of  the  company.  It  was  my 
function  to  sell  the  campaign  to  the  sales  force.  First  I 
carefully  explained  to  them  what  advertising  was  and  why 
their  concern  proposed  to  advertise.  Many  salesmen  have 
an  idea  when  a  concern  starts  to  advertise  that  it  is  either  a 
step  toward  doing  away  with  salesmen  or  hiring  men  at  a 
lower  price.  I  brought  this  idea  up  at  once  and  exploded 
the  theory.  I  laid  a  lot  of  stress  on  the  co-ordination  of  sales 
with  advertising. 

Then,  step  by  step,  I  explained  the  campaign,  taking  up 


96  SCIENTIFIC  SALES  MANAGEMENT 

each  link  from  the  product  to  the  consumer.  We  had  a 
name  and  trade-mark  for  the  product  and  a  distinctive  pack- 
age. I  told  them  that  was  so  because  it  was  necessary  to 
identify  the  article  for  the  consumer.  I  pointed  out  how  in 
our  consumer  advertising  we  constantly  printed  the  name 
and  pictured  the  package. 

Then  I  told  the  salesmen  of  their  part  in  the  work  —  that 
we  wanted  them  to  be  posted  thoroughly  on  every  detail  of 
the  advertising  —  the  mediums  to  be  used,  the  size  of  space, 
the  dates  of  insertions,  the  copy  itself,  etc.  I  told  them  how 
we  were  going  to  keep  them  informed.  I  told  them  that 
their  part  was  a  link  as  important  or  even  more  important 
than  any  other  in  the  chain. 

Then  I  told  of  our  plans  to  reach  the  retailer,  and  explained 
how  we  were  co-operating  with  the  salesmen  in  order  to 
make  them  the  closers  rather  than  missionaries. 

The  importance  of  the  store  signs,  of  the  mndow  displays 
was  brought  up.  Sales  to  the  consumers  were  closed,  not 
when  they  read  the  advertisement  in  the  paper,  but  after 
reading  it,  when  they  saw  the  displays  in  the  stores.  The 
salesmen  were  told  that  we  needed  their  co-operation  to 
secure  these  displays. 

Books  containing  all  the  newspaper  copy  were  given  to 
the  salesmen.  They  were  asked  to  use  these  and  show  them 
when  selling  the  retailer. 

Then  the  consumer's  part  in  the  work  was  brought  in. 
Advertisements  were  read  aloud  so  they  could  hear  what  we 
were  saying  to  the  consumers.  The  signs,  street  car  cards, 
posters,  etc.,  were  exhibited  and  the  reasons  for  their  use 
explained. 

The  advertising  to  the  consmner  did  not  start  until  a 
month  after  the  meeting.  The  salesmen  were  told  the 
importance  of  their  work  for  the  next  thirty  days. 

Now  it  would  be  unfair  to  say  every  salesman  enthused. 


ACTUAL  MEETINGS   AND   CONVENTIONS     97 

Of  the  twenty-five  men  present  all  but  two  were  absolutely 
sold  to  the  plan.  Two  of  the  older  men  were  skeptical. 
They  required  more  work.  But,  as  a  body,  they  went  out 
beheving  in  the  proposition.  They  were  in  such  shape  that 
they  were  able  to  sell  the  product  and  the  advertising  to  the 
dealer  in  an  intelligent  way.  During  the  first  six  months 
two  other  meetings  were  held. 

Surely  such  a  meeting  was  a  big  step  towards  securing 
salesmen's  co-operation  in  an  advertising  campaign. 

A  very  interesting  affair  is  held  by  one  concern  in  the  nature 
of  an  annual  banquet.  This  is  preceded  in  the  afternoon  by 
a  series  of  individual  talks  to  the  salesmen  by  members  of  the 
firm.  For  this  day  the  results  of  the  year  are  at  hand. 
Salary  changes  are  generally  made  at  this  time.  The  banquet 
is  held  in  the  evening,  one  of  the  firm  presiding.  After  the 
dinner  he  reads  statistics  sho^^'ing  the  results  of  the  year. 
He  reads  figures  showing  the  number  of  pounds  or  cases  of 
specialties  sold  by  each  salesman,  the  percentage  of  bad 
debts  lost  by  each  salesman,  the  number  of  the  new  accounts 
obtained,  etc.  He  generally  talks  in  an  informal  way  about 
the  past  year  and  the  plans  for  the  next  year. 

Then  each  man  is  called  upon  for  remarks.  The  men  are 
told  that  honest,  frank  criticism  of  the  methods  of  the  firm  or 
of  its  members  is  expected  and  solicited.  It  has  been  my 
duty  for  three  years  back,  for  instance,  to  listen  to  these 
salesmen  as  they  criticize  the  advertising  and  suggest 
improvements. 

The  firm  which  holds  this  annual  meeting  is  head  and 
shoulders  above  any  firm  doing  a  similar  business  in  the 
country.  They  are  the  largest  in  their  Une  and  it  is  gener- 
ally conceded  that  they  make  the  most  money.  They  apply 
every  known  principle  of  Scientific  Sales  Management  to 
their  sales  work. 

Another  style  of  meeting  which  is  useful  is  held  by  a  con- 


98  SCIENTIFIC  SALES  MANAGEMENT 

cem  which  operates  three  distinct  sales  organizations,  under 
three  sales  managers  located  at  Chicago,  Boston,  and  New 
York.  In  January  a  new  season  of  about  five  months  starts. 
This  is  the  important  season  when  new  prices,  styles,  etc., 
are  announced.  It  is  the  season  when  the  retailer  gives  his 
big  order  for  future  shipment.  It  is  the  practise  of  this  firm 
to  hold  meetings  at  the  three  headquarters  on  the  day  pre- 
vious to  starting  out  the  men.  These  meetings  last  all  day 
and  are  followed  by  an  evening  banquet.  The  manager  of 
the  parent  concern,  the  factory  superintendent,  the  local 
sales  manager,  and  the  advertising  agent,  which  is  the  author, 
attend  these  three  meetings  as  far  as  possible.  I  feel  sure 
that  they  are  a  fine  start  for  the  salesmen. 

A  more  elaborate  affair  is  a  salesmen's  convention.  One 
firm  does  this  in  a  most  complete  and  effective  way.  The 
session  opens  INIonday  morning  and  closes  Friday  night. 

Three  months  before  the  convention  about  fifteen  ques- 
tions are  mailed  to  each  salesman.  He  is  expected  to  send 
in  his  ideas  and  answers  to  them  one  month  before  the  con- 
vention. These  questions  refer  to  various  changes  which 
might  be  made  in  the  goods.  This  firm  manufactures  almost 
hundreds  of  styles,  shapes,  etc.,  of  its  product.  One  ques- 
tion often  is:  "We  desire  to  cut  out  some  of  our  numbers,  to 
reduce  the  line.  WTiat  styles  do  you  recommend  that  we 
drop?"  Again  they  might  ask:  "We  are  thinking  of  chan- 
ging number ,  maldng  it  of  heavier  material  and  adding 

a  reinforcement  at  the  back.  What  is  your  opinion  of  this?  " 
Another  might  be:  "Is  there  any  style  or  article  not  made 
by  us  which  you  think  we  should  make  for  next  year?  In 
what  way  do  our  competitors  hurt  you  in  your  territory  and 
how  can  we  get  around  this?  " 

The  answers  are  all  carefully  tabulated.  During  the 
sessions  these  questions  are  read  aloud.  Then  the  answers 
are  read.     Discussions  are  allowed  and  asked  for.     Finally, 


ACTUAL  MEETINGS  AND   CONVENTIONS     99 

and  sometimes  it  takes  hours  to  thresh  it  all  out,  the  presiding 
ofl&cer,  who  is  the  secretary  of  the  company,  announces  the 
decision  on  the  part  of  the  company.  Sometimes,  although 
rarely,  the  decision  is  reserved  for  later  announcement. 

The  arrangements  for  the  convention  are  well  handled. 
One  of  the  storage  rooms  in  the  mill  is  fitted  up  as  a  hall. 
Sufficient  space  is  divided  off  and  cheese-cloth  partitions  put 
up  to  make  it  attractive.  On  tables  around  the  side  of  the 
room  are  a  complete  Une  of  samples  of  the  products. 

Each  man  has  a  small  table  for  his  desk.  This  desk  is 
fitted  with  a  full  line  of  stationery,  clean  blotters,  pens,  ink, 
etc.  The  name  of  the  man  who  is  to  sit  at  the  desk  is 
stenciled  in  large  letters  on  the  desk  blotter.  The  men  are 
seated  in  groups.  The  New  England  men  are  at  one  side, 
the  Middle  Atlantic  men  in  the  middle,  and  the  Western  men 
at  the  other  side.  A  platform  is  erected  at  the  front  with 
several  desks,  at  which  are  seated  the  officers  of  the  company, 
including  the  various  factory  superintendents.  A  most 
unique  and  serviceable  idea  is  the  plan  of  the  hall,  which  lies 
before  the  chairman.  This  is  a  diagram  showing  each  desk 
and  the  name  of  the  salesman  occupying  it.  This  makes  it 
most  easy  for  the  chairman  and  stenographers  to  know  who 
is  speaking  from  the  floor. 

A  telephone  is  run  into  the  hall.  Stenographers  are  present 
and  they  keep  account  of  all  rulings  and  decisions. 

The  advertising  matter,  such  as  signs,  new  packages, 
proofs,  etc.,  are  displayed. 

Two  sessions  are  held  each  day,  morning  and  afternoon. 
One  day  or  one  session  is  given  up  to  advertising.  At  this 
session  the  author  explains  the  plans  for  the  following  year. 
Afterwards  questions  are  asked  by  the  men. 

The  final  affair  is  a  dinner  held  on  Friday  evening.  Printed 
menus  are  provided,  containing  many  songs  with  local 
hits,  etc. 


loo        SCIENTIFIC  SALES   MANAGEMENT 

It  is  remarkable  to  see  the  big  differences,  disputes,  etc., 
gradually  settled  and  then  disappear.  At  this  convention 
the  officials  of  the  company  have  a  chance  to  hear  what  the 
trade  outside  want  and  say.  The  salesmen  hear  the  factory 
side.     Finally,  results  are  obtained  by  combining  their  ideas. 

It  is  another  case  of  the  salesmen  who  work  for  the  house 
and  the  house  which  works  for  the  salesmen. 

Also  it  is  a  case  of  a  firm  which  makes  money  ard  carries 
on  a  big  business  in  an  easy  way  in  the  face  of  enormous 
competition. 


So- Called  Ginger  'Talks 


chapter  XII 
So-Called  Ginger  Talks 

1  DON'T  know  who  invented  the  phrase  "ginger  talks," 
but  he  is  innocently  responsible  for  a  lot  of  sin  in  sales 
work.  Salesmen  are  sensible  men.  They  may  be  boys 
grown  up,  but  they  are  canny,  keen,  and  analytical.  They 
are  open  to  the  spirit  of  competition  and  may  be  inspired, 
but  — 

The  stuff  that  is  put  out  under  the  term  "ginger  talks" 
wouldn't  inspire  a  camp-meeting  Methodist.  Indeed,  some 
of  it  is  enough  to  cause  nausea.  At  times  some  young,  green, 
raw,  newly  arrived  youngster  sits  in  the  chair  of  the  sales 
manager.  He  reads  a  few  papers  on  the  subject  of  selUng 
and  then  proceeds  to  put  out  what  he  calls  "ginger"  or 
"inspirational"  talks. 

It's  all  very  well  to  write  "  Every  man  will  put  his  shoulder 
to  the  wheel " ;  "England  expects  every  man  to  do  his  duty  " ; 
"Beat  'em  to  a  frazzle";  "Eat  'em  alive,"  etc.,  but  if  little 
intelligence  and  no  real  heart  and  spirit  is  i)ut  into  it,  the 
stuff  doesn't  go. 

I  suppose  that  the  authors  of  these  epistles  really  think 
(or  do  they?)  that  the  recipient  is  thrilled  as  he  reads  them. 
I  have  seen  the  recipient  receive  some  of  them.  He  doesn't 
thrill. 

Years  ago  when  I  was  sort  of  territory  superintendent, 
the  salesmen  under  me  received  various  bulletins  from  a  score 
of  department  sales  managers.     Some  of  these  were  good. 


I04  SCIENTIFIC   SALES   MANAGEMENT 

Many  wore  poor.  I  was  naturally  much  interested  that 
they  should  have  a  good  effect  because  I  needed  aggregate 
results.  NcN'ertheless,  at  times,  it  was  enough  to  cause  one 
to  weep  to  see  the  waste  of  postage  and  stationery.  Some 
of  these  poor  efforts  were  no  doubt  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
big  department  sales  manager  was  directing  his  assistants 
under  him  to  send  out  what  they  considered  ginger  or 
inspiration  talks.  Even  at  that  I  always  felt  that  they  were 
better  than  notliing,  and  some  of  them  were  better  than 
others. 

A  sales  manager  ought  to  be  very  sure  of  the  printed  or 
written  matter  which  is  sent  out  to  salesmen  over  his  signa- 
ture. I  think  it  is  worth  while  for  him  to  see  nearly  every- 
thing that  goes  out,  particularly  if  it  is  of  the  type  of  a  boost 
or  pusliing  piece.  I  recall  two  different  instances  which 
came  to  my  attention  where  salesmen  were  being  injured  by 
unfortunate  communications  from  the  main  ofl&ce.  I  recol- 
lect in  one  instance,  after  I  had  taken  another  man's  position, 
that  I  found  one  salesman  who  was  somewhat  irritated  and 
sore  over  the  former  administration.  The  sole  reason  was 
certain  letters  which  he  was  receiving  urging  him  to  sell  one 
product.  On  investigation  I  foimd  that  these  particular 
letters  were  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  sales  manager's 
stenographer,  a  middle-aged  woman.  She  was  keeping  the 
records  and  sending  out  the  letters,  etc.,  urging  men  for 
results.  She  was  not  showing  good  judgment  in  the  tone 
of  these  letters.  In  another  case  I  talked  to  a  salesman 
whom  I  met  up  in  the  woods  while  on  a  fishing  trip.  He  was 
very  sore  on  his  chief  because  of  certain  contests  that  were 
being  run  in  which  he  was  ridiculed  a  little  bit.  I  had  a  good 
chance  to  look  into  the  matter,  and  again  it  was  a  case  of  a 
clerk  who  was  handling  this  particular  feature  of  the  sales 
manager's  work,  but  who  was  not  showing  good  judgment. 

A  man  who  sends  letters  to  salesmen  should  talk  common 


SO-CALLED    GINGER   TALKS  105 

sense.  He  shouldn't  preach  to  them.  He  should  be  careful 
not  to  ridicule  tail-enders.  He  shouldn't  attempt  to  be 
flowery  because,  in  most  instances,  he  can't  be  if  he  tries. 
Give  them  the  news.  Appeal  to  the  best  side  of  their  nature. 
Show  them,  try  to  lead  them. 

Cut  out  all  tommyrot  —  the  "give  me  liberty  or  give  me 
death"  stuff.  No  men  (except  fools  and  they  die  early)  kill 
themselves  over  selling.  Don't  take  yourself  or  your  job 
too  seriously.  From  the  subhme  to  the  ridiculous  is  but  a 
step,  and  your  ginger  talks  will  be  in  the  latter  class  unless 
you  take  care. 

It  is  rather  difficult  to  give  good  examples  of  this  sort 
of  talks.  It  has  been  suggested  that  in  this  chapter  there 
should  be  shown  several  good  ginger  talks  and  some  of  the 
other  kind.  Below  are  given  extracts  from  a  bulletin  that 
was  mailed  to  salesmen  some  time  ago.  Some  of  the  facts 
are  purposely  omitted,  as  they  pertain  to  private  business. 
The  job  was  mimeographed  and  the  headline  was  in  large 
letters  at  the  top. 

WHAT  ABOUT  NEXT  YEAR? 

It  was  a  few  days  ago,  and  I  had  Ijeen  talking  with  one  of  my  man- 
agers about  liis  business  of  this  past  year.  He  had  showoi  increases  for 
every  one  of  the  eleven  past  periods,  and  was  counting  on  making  a 
glorious  finish.     Then  I  asked  him,  "What  about  next  year?" 

All  day  long  I  thought  about  the  question  —  "What  about  next 
year?  "  It  meant  a  whole  lot  to  me  as  well  as  to  every  manager,  Branch 
House  salesman,  and  specialty  salesman  who  travels  on  this  territory. 

That  afternoon  I  read  the  four  page  advertisement  of  our  company 
as  it  appears  in  the  November  magazines.  (See  The  American  Magazine, 
Munsey's,  and  others  for  November.)  It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to 
repeat  the  advertisement  here.  You  have  probably  read  it.  If  you 
have  not,  I  wish  you  would  do  so.  That  advertisement  is  the  raw 
material  from  which  your  ammunition  must  be  made  this  next  year. 

There  is  meat  for  every man  in  that  advertisement.    I  wish  I  could 

take  the  time  and  space  to  dissect  those  four  pages  and  point  out  the 


io6  SCIENTIFIC   SALES  MANAGEMENT 

numerous  sermons  and  ideas  that  are  in  it  for  all  of  us.  That  advertise- 
ment may  well  be  your creed  for  next  year. 

A  great  deal  has  happened  in  the industry  this  past  year.    Much 

history  has  been  made.    It  marks  an  epoch  in  the business,  but  now 

we  are  looking  ahead,  not  behind.    What  about  next  year? 

Ne.xt  j-ear?  \\'e  are  to  go  forward,  to  grow  as  we  have  never  grown 
before.  The  business  is  to  increase  in  a  marvelous  manner.  Our  busi- 
ness—  Blank  &  Company's  business — is  to  maintain  the  lead.  Read 
that  November  advertisement.  It  \vi[\  tell  you  why  we  are  to  maintain 
the  lead.  It  is  for  you  now  to  question  yourself  as  to  whether  you  arc 
ready  to  grow  also. 

In  making  my  own  plans  for  this  next  3'ear,  I  am  obliged  to  consider 
the  qualifications  of  every  man  employed  on  the  territory.  I  realize 
that  this  year  we  must  have  broad  men,  and  give  them  opportunities  to 
show  their  strength.  There  is  one  kind  of  a  man  that  we  do  not  want 
this  year.  I  must  use  a  big  word  to  describe  him,  but  it  expresses  exactly 
the  meaning.  My  motto  for  this  territory  must  be  "No  pessimists 
wanted."  If  you  are  not  sure  what  I  mean  by  that,  please  get  all  the 
definitions  of  the  word  "pessimist"  you  can  find;  put  them  together 
and  they  will  show  you  my  meaning. 

What  Kind  of  Managers  do  we  Need  for  the  Next  Ye.ar? 

We  need  managers  who  do  not  think  they  have  all  the  milk  out  of 
the  cocoanut  so  far  as  their  own  towns  are  concerned.  We  need  managers 
who  wtII  be  keenly  alive  to  the  possibilities  of  the  business.  If  they 
study  the  November  advertising,  they  will  realize  that  this  is  to  be 
"an  open  door  period,"  as  it  always  has  been.  Your  Branch  House  is 
now  not  only  open  to  the  public,  but  we  invite  people  to  visit  it  by 
our  advertising.  It  is  to  the  manager  who  runs  the  Branch  House 
that  we  must  look  to  have  model  stores.  It  is  to  him  that  we  must 
look,  not  only  for  the  appearance  of  the  house  itself,  but  also  for  the 
appearance  of  the  stock.  If  he  is  to  grow,  every  manager  must  be 
alive  to  all  the  possibilities  of  doing  business  in  his  section.  Every 
prospective  customer  must  be  looked  after.  We  have  many  kinds  of 
products.  To  sell  them,  a  manager  must  be  an  all-round  man.  He 
must  show  interest  in  every  product.  He  must  not  be  a  specialty  man. 
He  must  not  be  one-sided.  Blank  &  Company  look  to  him,  so  far  as  his 
towns  are  concerned,  to  sell  all  products  intelligently.  He  must  be  in 
earnest.  He  must  believe  implicitly  that  Blank  &  Company's  quality 
and  Blank  &  Company's  policy  stand  for  all  that  is  good. 


SO-CALLED   GINGER  TALKS  107 

The  Br.\nch  House  Salesman  for  Next  Year — What 
About  Him? 

He  must  be  an  intelligent,  thinking,  business  man.  There  is  no 
place  this  year  for  bluffs  or  hot-air  salesmanship.  Downright  earnest- 
ness,  sincerity,  enthusiasm,  and  loyalty  are  needed.     His  eyes  must 

sparkle  and  snap  with  enthusiasm  when  he  talks • , , • 

, , ,  or  any  of  our  products.  By  his  earnestness,  enthusi- 
asm, and  sincerity  he  must  sweep  before  him  all  prejudice  and  objec- 
tions of  the  customer.  He  must  be  loyal.  However  any  rulings  may 
affect  him,  he  must  believe  and  understand  thoroughly  that  Blank  & 
Company's  policy  make  it  necessary.  He  must  understand  that  these 
various  rulings  have  built  up  one  of  the  largest  and  most  successful 
business  organizations  in  the  world. 

The  specialty  man  must  also  have  all  the  qualifications  of  the  Branch 
House  salesman.  Of  course  his  main  issue  is  his  specialty,  but  he  must 
never  forget  that  first,  last,  and  always,  he  is  employed  by  Blank  &  Com- 
pany. He  must  be  proud  of  this.  He  must  protect  Blank  &  Company's 
interests  at  every  point.  He  should  never  in  any  way  show  any  disap- 
proval of  their  methods,  whether  they  concern  his  department  or  some 
other. 

Now  then,  take  an  inventory  of  yourself.  If  you  do  not  look  good  to 
yourself,  strengthen  up  on  the  weak  points  —  then  start  in.  We  are 
going  to  do  it.  Each  and  every  one  of  us  is  to  have  the  best  year  that 
we  ever  put  in  for  Blank  &  Company.  If  you  do  not  feel  just  this  way, 
there  is  something  wrong  with  you. 

The  Sales  Manager 

Below  are  given  extracts  from  another  ginger  talk  which 
has  some  merit.  It  is  a  little  overdone,  however,  and  lacks 
sincerity.  It  was  issued  by  an  Assistant  Sales  Manager 
who  always  secured  results  in  his  department  and  has  pro- 
gressed a  great  deal  in  the  past  few  years.  In  a  mimeograph 
bulletin  he  says: 

Since  our  last  issue  there  has  been  little  change  in  the  position  of  the 
several  contestants.  We  are  now  nearing  the  "home  stretch,"  two  and 
one  half  periods  to  go.  Everybody  is  bubbling  over  with  enthusiasm 
and  the  dope  sheet  convinces  us  that  it's  anybody's  race.     From  infor- 


loS         SCIENTIFIC  SALES  MANAGEMENT 

mation  at  hand,  there  are  several  "Live  Wires,"  heretofore  "unknown 
quantities,"  that  are  about  ready  to  set  a  pace  that  will  make  some  of 
the  so-called  "Sure  Things"  dig. 

NOW  FOR  THE  HURDLES 

Britt  still  heads  the  list,  but  has  fallen  away.  Wonder  if  he's  shot 
his  bolt?  Remember,  fellows,  his  quota  is  a  big  one  and  he'll  have  to 
travel  to  be  in  the  money. 

Bhvan  coming  strong  —  has  gained  on  Britt.  Manager  Austin  says, 
"You  can't  stop  his  wind." 

iSIcDonnell  third,  and  writes  in  to  watch  him;  for,  as  he  says,  "I'm 
going  through  the  line."   Watch  out,  men,  or  this  boy  will  Sting  you. 

Richards  fourth  and  sticking  like  glue  (the  " "  kind  too).     Do 

you  realize  just  what  this  means?  Richards  says  he's  going  to  wear 
Miss  "Veribest"  on  his  finger  —  and  he  may  turn  the  trick  at  that. 

Ahern  fifth — Jim  has  just  returned  from  the  "Windy  City"  —  at- 
tended the  soap  convention,  you  know,  and  had  the  time  of  his  life. 
Don't  overlook  this  bet,  for  he's  apt  to  hand  us  all  one  juicy  Lemon  on 
the  last  lap. 

Haskell  next  —  take  our  word  for  it,  this  fellow  is  to  be  reckoned  with. 
He  can  and  will  Do  Things. 

Backus  seventh — fire  up,  Sam,  don't  let  the  steam  get  low,  youi 
reputation  is  at  stake.     Remember  "Special  Mention." 

Keatley  follows  close  behind.  Dave  knows  no  such  thing  as  defeat. 
Take  it  from  us  he's  a  stayer,  and  a  strong  contender  all  the  time.  We 
know  what  we're  talking  about  too. 

Then  comes  Hayes,  full  of  confidence,  even  though  he  was  nosed  out 

of  the  Soap  Contest.     That's  the  sort  of  real  stuff  " "men 

are  made  of.     Hats  off  to  Hayes. 

Dodd,  old  boy,  number  ten  in  the  running.  Those  of  you  who  want 
a  Hunch  get  next  to  this  performer. 

Bernhardt  close  behind,  bunched  with  Leonard  and  Hallett.  Come 
on,  boys,  we  need  your  best  efforts. 

Adams  number  fourteen.  Our  guess  is  he'll  show  well  up  with  the 
leaders  before  another  period  has  passed. 

Fradd  shows  next,  with  lots  of  speed  in  reserve. 

Feinn  and  Brown,  both  of  Derby,  can  be  seen  close  by.  Take  a  brace 
and  turn  the  trick.  You  both  could  if  you  would.  Do  things  and  give 
Manager  Rogers  that  "Veribest"  feeling. 

Lutz,  Daggett,  Killeen,  Riley  and  Wilbur  bring  up  the  rear.     Why 


SO-CALLED    GINGER  TALKS  109 

can't  you  pull  yourselves  together  and  get  up  with  the  Big  Show?     Every 
one  of  you  can  make  the  goal.     Get  out  of  that  Rut  and  Deliver. 

Yours  for  success, 

Sales  Manager 

The  following  talk  or  letter  was  sent  out  by  a  sales  manager 
a  few  weeks  after  he  had  assumed  his  position. 

TO  ALL  SALESMEN 

I  wish  that  it  were  possible  for  me  to  meet  and  talk  to  each  salesman 
upon  this  territory  as  often  as  once  a  week.  If  I  could  do  this  I  feel 
that  I  could  be  of  considerable  help  to  you,  and  I  am  sure  that  the  results 
all  over  the  territory  would  be  bettered. 

There  are  a  whole  lot  of  salesmen  selling  goods  in  this  country  who 
ought  to  hand  in  their  resignations  and  then  look  for  a  job  driving  coal 
teams.  I  mean  by  this  that  there  are  a  lot  of  fellows  who  call  themselves 
salesmen  who  have  no  interest  in  their  business,  who  have  no  confidence 
or  faith  in  their  boss  or  in  the  house  which  they  represent.  Now  if  there 
are  any  fellows  on  this  territory  of  ours  who  have  not  faith  and  confidence 
in  their  manager,  who  don't  beUeve  that  their  superintendent  knows 
his  business,  and  who  don't  beheve  that  Blank  &  Company  are  the  best 
people  in  this  fine  of  business  and  that  Blank  &  Company  know  how  to 
do  business,  I  want  these  gentlemen  to  send  in  their  resignations  at  once 
or  to  change  their  frame  of  mind  in  equally  short  order. 

I  have  spent  the  past  month  getting  acquainted  with  the  men  who 
are  going  to  help  me  make  this  territory  a  Successful  Territory.  I 
have  not  looked  at  results  as  much  as  I  am  going  to  in  the  future.  I 
have  not  asked  anybody  to  resign.  I  have  not  suggested  to  anyone  that 
his  job  was  no  good.     I  have  endeavored  to  give  every  man  a  show. 

Tliis  period  I  expect  to  see  business  coming  in.  I  expect  every  sales- 
man to  show  by  his  work  that  he  wants  to  do  what  we  ask  him  to  do. 
Blank  &  Company  by  certain  methods  of  doing  business  have  been  very 
successful.  It  is  not  for  us  to  criticize  those  methods  or  in  other  words, 
to  use  a  slang  phrase,  "knock."  We  propose  this  month  to  spend  some 
time  searching  out  the  "knockers." 

Let  me  suggest  that  you  devote  a  considerable  lot  of  thought  this 
period  to  digging  out  something  a  little  unusual  in  the  line  of  business. 
If  you  will  think  about  this,  watching  your  trade,  studying  your  price 
lists  and  your  line  of  goods,  you  will  be  able  to  find  a  great  many  out- 
lets for  goods  of  which  before  you  did  not  avail  yourself.     Make  up  your 


no  SCIENTIFIC   SALES   MANAGEMENT 

mind  that  you  are  going  to  show  unusual  business  rather  than  the  usual 
amount  and  kind.  Do  j'ou  grasp  my  thought?  And  also,  if  you  get 
next  to  a  large  or  unusual  order  and  you  want  special  prices,  have  the 
manager  get  them  for  you.  The  wires  are  at  your  disposal  and  we  will, 
everyone  of  us,  do  everything  possible  to  help  you  land  the  business. 
Now  read  this  letter  through  once  more  and  think  it  over. 

Yours  truly. 

The  Superintendent 

Here  is  another  example  of  a  letter  which  does  not  say 
anything  specific  and  yet  gives  some  very  good  facts. 

Dear  Sir: 

Salesmen  have  a  way  of  cracking  up  other  men's  territories  and  taking 
a  knock  at  their  own.  It  is  always  the  far  pasture  that  looks  greenest, 
but  you  will  generally  find,  when  you  actually  set  foot  on  the  distant 
field,  that  the  color  turns  out  to  be  about  the  same  shade  of  dull  green, 
verging  on  brown,  that  tinted  the  patch  that  you  left.  It  isn't  the  terri- 
tory that  gets  orders  —  it's  the  man. 

There  is  a  tale  extant  of  a  soldier  who  broke  his  sword  in  a  battle.  He 
had  been  putting  up  a  poor  sort  of  a  fight  anyway,  and  when  his  blade 
broke  off  in  the  middle,  he  threw  the  remaining  half  of  the  sword  away 
and  took  to  his  heels,  remarking,  "I  can't  fight  with  that  thing."  A 
fellow-soldier,  who  had  been  defending  himself  as  best  he  could  with  a 
short  dagger,  seized  the  discarded  sword  with  a  whoop  of  joy  and  made 
such  rattling  good  play  with  it  that  he  put  to  rout  both  his  own  antag- 
onist and  the  man  who  had  fought  with  his  runaway  companion. 

Some  men  can  do  more  with  a  broken  sword  than  others  with  a  com- 
plete arsenal  of  perfect  weapons.  The  opportunities  that  some  of  us 
throw  away  as  useless,  other  men  would  find  it  impossible  to  fail  with. 
Every  sales  manager  can  point  to  scores  of  territories  where  four,  five, 
or  six  men  failed,  one  after  the  other,  before  the  right  man  came  along 
and  made  a  barrel  of  money.  The  possibilities  of  those  territories  were 
there  all  the  time;  but  the  men  that  failed  couldn't  see  them.  They 
didn't  look  hard  enough. 

Someone  has  truly  said  that  while  Opportunity  knocks  at  least  once 
at  every  man's  door,  the  party  inside  has  no  right  to  expect  the  panels 
to  be  kicked  in.  And  it  may  be  added  that  if  the  expectant  party  is  a 
salesman  he  had  best  not  wait  inside  at  all.  The  only  way  in  which  he 
can  ever  hope  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  Opportunity  is  to  get  outside  the 
door  and  do  a  lot  of  active  searching  for  her  up  and  dowm  the  street. 


SO-CALLED    GINGER  TALKS  iii 

We  adNase  you  to  begin  your  search  today.  When  we  balance  up 
our  books  at  the  end  of  the  month,  you  want  to  be  on  the  right  side  of 
the  ledger.  The  first  essential  in  the  process  of  getting  there  is  to  start 
now.  You  can't  secure  orders  in  the  past  or  in  the  future;  you  must 
get  them  Today. 

Respectfully, 

Here  is  a  common  sense  letter. 

AIM  AT  A  CERTAIN  MARK  — THEN  STRIVE  FOR  IT 

A  salesman  who  fails  to  Estimate  and  lay  out  his  work  is  in  the  same 
class  with  the  himter  who  shuts  his  eyes  and  fires  into  the  brush  where 
he  "thinks"  the  bird  is  hidden.  He  stands  just  about  as  big  a  chance 
of  getting  results  as  the  hunter  does  of  getting  game. 

On  the  other  hand,  everything  favors  the  salesman  or  himter  who  aims 
at  a  certain  standard  or  object.  He  gets  "more  for  his  money,"  much 
better  results  for  the  effort  put  forth,  a  wiser  distribution  of  time,  more 
time  to  devote  to  unusual  and  difficult  business,  and  he  reduces  waste  of 
time  and  energy  to  a  minimum. 

In  putting  this  plan  into  effect  I  would  suggest  the  following  ideas. 
Take  the  hst  of  Blank  &  Company's  products  as  they  appear  on  the 
Monthly  Salesman's  Report,  and  after  careful  study  set  opposite  each 
item  the  amount  which  you  will  endeavor  to  sell  during  the  entire  month. 

For  instance, in  barrels.    "I  will  try  to  sell  $300  worth  this  month. 

That  means  20  barrels.  Can  I  do  it  and  how  much  time  can  I  devote 
to  it?  "  Well,  that's  just  what  your  estimate  is  for —  to  give  you  an  idea 
of  what  you  ought  to  do  and  then-arouse  the  determination  to  Do  It. 

Don't  overestimate,  though  it  is  far  better  to  overestimate  than  it 
is  to  place  j'our  mark  so  low  that  it  requires  no  skill  or  work  to  exceed 
it.  "Aim  high,  the  arrows  will  fall  short  enough."  Then  go  through 
the  entire  line  —  from  nuts  to  raisins,  silks  to  calicoes,  and  so  on  down 
the  list. 

Now  this  letter  is  written  merely  to  suggest  a  line  of  thought  with  the 
hope  that  it  will  prove  of  help  to  you  in  the  building  up  of  your  trade 
following  and  consequently  making  you  a  more  valuable  man  for  your- 
self and  for  Blank  &  Company. 

I  would  be  very  glad  to  receive  from  you  a  letter  in  reply,  giving  me 
your  ideas  and  containing,  if  you  desire,  your  estimate  of  what  you  will 
accomplish  this  j)resent  month. 

Respectfully, 


112         SCIENTIFIC  SALES  MANAGEMENT 

Here  is  a  letter,  dictated  hurriedly  and  mailed  to  a  force 
of  salesmen. 

A  PERSONAL  AND  CONFIDENTIAL  TALK  WITH  OUR 
SALES   FORCE 

Dear  Sir: 

Sometimes  it  may  seem  as  though  we  were  everlastingly  at  our  sales- 
men to  do  this  or  that,  but  the  results  prove  that  our  efforts  are  not  in 
vain. 

Three  or  four  months  ago  we  had  one  or  two  men  who  were  running 
in  what  might  be  called  the  "two  minute"  class,  or  among  the  big  fel- 
lows. Today  we  can  count  up  at  least  six  men  who  are  pushing  hard 
towards  the  front  and  who  are  now  in  the  company  of  the  original  "two 
minute"  class. 

My  plan  for  securing  greater  success  at  these  Branch  Houses  is  not 
very  complicated.  I  want  to  secure  one,  if  not  two,  salesmen  at  each 
house  whom  I  can  count  on  as  being  big  sellers.  It  is  all  very  well  to 
come  in  with  sales  of  $2500  to  $3500.  Possibly  sales  of  this  sort  wiU 
just  keep  your  job  —  for  a  little  while.  But  the  fellow  who  comes 
along  with  $5000  to  $6500  per  month  is  the  man  who  is  going  to  attract 
our  attention  and  fill  the  bill. 

Now  to  consider  a  few  real  things  and  not  to  talk  in  a  general  way. 

I  have  just  offered  a ,  and  I  wonder  how  many  of  the  salesmen 

who  received  that  letter  have  actually  made  up  their  minds  that  they 
were  going  to  \\in  the  prize.  In  my  opinion  winning  this  ten  dollars 
in  money  is  equivalent  to  winning  one  hundred  dollars,  if  not  five  hun- 
dred dollars,  in  reputation  so  far  as  Blank  &  Company  are  concerned. 

Somebody  has  said,  "The  reason  men  do  not  do  more  is  because  they 

do  not  attempt  more."   Now  this  applies  to  things  like  this contest. 

It  is  the  fellow  who  says  "I  will"  and  goes  and  does  it  that  we  are  look- 
ing for.  If  you  think  that  your  territory  is  not  quite  as  good  as  some 
other  fellow's,  just  remember  the  letter  we  sent  you  some  little  time  ago, 
because  that  expresses  our  ideas  on  the  territory  question.   .   .   . 

The  two  propositions  mentioned  above  might  be  called  the  "Unusual 
Business"  for  this  period.  We  expect  the  customary  volume  of  regular 
business  from  all  the  other  lines. 


Contests  for  Salesmen 


Chapter  XIII 
Contests  for  Salesmen 

TN  Chapter  II  the  matter  of  a  Set  Task  has  been  men- 
tioned and  illustrated  by  the  case  of  the  teacher  who 
gives  a  set  task  day  by  day  to  the  boy  at  school.  Sales- 
men also  Mill  work  to  better  advantage  if  there  is  a  definite 
goal  not  too  far  ahead  of  them.  The  schoolboy  is  pleased 
when  he  has  finished  translating  his  three  pages  of  Latin 
or  ten  sums  in  arithmetic.  So  with  the  salesman.  If  he 
works  on  some  definite  quota  or  has  some  definite  object  to 
accomplish  within  a  reasonably  short  time,  he  has  a  sense 
of  satisfaction  when  he  accomplishes  it  or  does  more.  So 
perhaps  along  this  line  of  reasoning  lies  the  merit  of 
contests.  Contests  are  really  nothing  but  setting  tasks 
which  are  reasonably  sure  of  accomplishment  by  a  good 
salesman. 

Contests  are  often  spoiled  because  the  prize  is  made  the 
biggest  feature  of  them.  Once  I  attended  a  salesmen's 
convention,  at  which  the  head  of  the  concern  announced 
that  for  the  next  year  the  salesman  who  did  the  best  in  a 
certain  Une  would  receive  a  prize  of  $500.  The  announce- 
ment fell  flat.  During  the  recess  the  salesmen  discussed 
this  point.  I  heard  many  of  them  say  that  they  didn't  like 
it.  They  said  they  were  now  doing  the  best  they  possibly 
could  and  no  matter  if  the  boss  offered  several  prizes  of  $500, 
it  wouldn't  make  them  work  any  harder  than  they  were 
working  now.     Indeed  there  was  so  much  opposition  to  this 


ii6  SCIENTIFIC   SALES  MANAGEMENT 

prize  that  the  offer  was  withdrawn  at  the  next  day's  session 
of  that  convention. 

Now  had  there  been  a  game  for  the  sake  of  the  game  or  a 
contest  for  the  sake  of  the  contest,  based  on  a  definite  amount 
of  goods  to  be  sold  for  a  stated  period,  I  feel  sure  this  thing 
would  not  have  fallen  through. 

Often  when  I  suggest  contests  the  management  is  afraid 
of  them.  Executives  feel  that  their  salesmen  are  not  boys 
and  are  too  old  to  be  put  in  such  a  class.  I  am  not  in  favor 
of  prize  contests  where  the  prize  is  big  or  where  the  prize 
is  made  the  main  feature.  At  any  rate  I  am  not  in  favor  of 
this  except  where  I  am  very  sure  of  my  men. 

It  isn't  for  the  prize  that  I  run  a  contest.  It  is  for 
the  game.  I  have  secured  better  results  when  the  prize 
was  nothing  but  some  joke  than  when  there  has  been  a 
valuable  one  at  stake.  However,  I  ha\'e  seen  and  have  nm 
both  kinds.  Let  me  illustrate  this  by  two  different  con- 
tests in  which  the  prizes  were  distinctly  different. 

Some  years  ago  a  company  with  which  I  was  connected 
was  not  selling  very  much  of  a  certain  sort  of  product.  It 
was  rather  out  of  the  general  line  which  their  men  sold. 
We  o^^^led  a  lot  of  this  product,  however,  and  we  wanted  to 
secure  business.  We  didn't  seem  to  know  how  to  sell  it, 
or  at  any  rate  our  salesmen  didn't  know  how  to  sell  it.  It 
wasn't  in  their  line  of  work. 

One  day  I  made  up  a  mimeograph  bulletin  which  showed 
a  picture  of  a  road  race  course,  such  as  you  would  see  dowTi 
in  Long  Island  for  the  Vanderbilt  Cup  Race.  It  was  just 
about  the  time  that  one  of  these  races  was  being  run.  I 
announced  in  this  bulletin  that  we  would  run  an  automobile 
endurance  race.  The  picture  showed  a  track  which  ran  all 
around  the  paper.  It  was  Hke  a  map  of  the  com-se.  In  the 
corner  we  printed  some  pictures  of  automobiles  with  the 
name  of  a  salesman  on  each  one.     The  race  course  showed 


CONTESTS   FOR   SALESMEN  117 

50,000  units.  We  called  a  pound  a  unit.  We  announced 
that  the  man  who  first  sold  50,000  pounds  would  be  the 
winner  and  that  the  prize  was  to  be  an  automobile. 

Now  I  might  tell  you  that  the  selling  price  of  this  product 
was  so  small  that  nobody  supposed  for  a  minute  that  we  were 
going  to  give  an  automobile  to  the  salesman  who  sold  50,000 
pounds,  particularly  as  our  organization  was  only  about  25 
salesmen.  We  picked  off  the  data  as  to  the  number  of  pounds 
sold  by  each  man  at  the  end  of  a  week  and  we  sent  out  a  new 
bulletin.  This  showed  the  same  race  course,  but  this  time  the 
automobiles  were  on  the  track.  The  man  who  had  sold  500 
pounds  was  at  the  500  pound  mark,  and  the  man  who  had 
sold  1000  pounds  was  at  the  1000  pound  mark.  We  kept 
this  up  for  six  weeks,  at  the  end  of  which  time  one  man 
reached  the  50,000  poimd  mark  and  secured  the  prize. 
This  Uttle  contest  excited  a  lot  of  interest  and  sold  a  lot  of 
the  product.  The  prize  in  this  case  was  a  little  mechanical, 
toy  automobile. 

On  the  other  hand,  another  department  of  this  concern 
wished  to  make  a  big  showing  on  one  of  their  products. 
They  announced  that  they  would  send  the  winner  from  each 
territory  to  the  main  office.  It  averaged  to  cost  $200  per 
man  to  do  this.  This  meant  that  virtually  the' prizes  were 
worth  $200.  Out  of  the  seventy  odd  men  in  my  territory, 
there  was  only  one  man  who  could  go;  namely,  the  man  who 
could  sell  the  most  of  this  product.  We  worked  hard  on  this 
and  boosted  it  all  we  could,  but  I  think  I  am  quite  fair  when 
I  say  that  there  wasn't  a  particle  more  interest  in  it  than  there 
was  in  the  other  contest  which  was  merely  a  joke. 

In  making  up  contests  of  this  sort  where  there  are  a  num- 
ber of  things  to  be  sold,  it  is  sometimes  wise  to  allow  extra 
count  for  the  hard-selUng  things.  I  remember  a  certain 
contest  in  which  the  prize  was  a  magnificent  hand-tooled 
gold  ring.     In  this  contest  we  gave  double  credit  for  seUing 


ii8 


SCIENTIFIC  S.\LES  MANAGEMENT 


^Mimeograph  bulletin  issued  by  a  packer  for  New  York  City  salesmen. 
This  is  one  of  a  series  which  came  out  every  few  daN-s  during  the  contest. 
The  prize  was  not  of  great  value,  but  the  game  was  made  interesting. 


CONTESTS   FOR   SALESMEN  iig 

certain  specialties.  This  is  a  good  point  and  will  help 
wonderfully  in  inducing  the  salesman  to  push  the  things 
which  are  harder  to  sell. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  contest  I  ever  pulled  off  was  when 
I  offered  a  big  silver  cup  as  a  trophy  to  my  managers.  This 
was  offered  to  the  manager  who  each  month  showed  in- 
creases in  the  greatest  number  of  departments.  The  beauty 
of  this  thing  was  that  equal  credit  was  given  to  each  sales 
department  without  reference  to  its  size.  That  is,  in  some 
departments  there  were  very  large  sales,  whereas  in  others, 
which  for  the  purposes  of  bookkeeping  were  kept  separate, 
the  sales  were  very  small.  It  was  announced,  however,  that 
the  cup  would  be  awarded  to  the  branch  house  which 
showed  the  greatest  number  of  increases  each  month. 
Furthermore,  the  manager  who  won  it  three  times  in  suc- 
cession would  owTi  it. 

There  were  exceptional  advantages  in  this.  The  big 
departments,  the  sales  of  which  would  amount  to  a  large 
amount  of  money  per  month,  had  to  be  pulled  out  in  order 
to  secure  a  good  score  and  the  manager  had  to  win  out  in  the 
smaller  ones  also.  The  scores  of  "the  A\inners  were  nearly 
always  perfect.  That  is  to  say,  the  winners  showed  in- 
creases in  every  department. 

Imagine  the  effect  upon  the  business  in  the  aggregate. 
Here  were  about  seventeen  branch  houses  trying  to  score 
perfect  in  every  department.  This  contest  lasted  seven 
months,  when  it  was  finally  won  three  times  in  succession 
by  one  house. 

Its  merit  was  that  there  was  a  set  task ;  namely,  an  in- 
crease in  each  department  that  could  be  accompHshed  each 
month.  It  was  possible  at  the  end  of  each  month  for  the 
participant  to  see  and  realize  his  success.  Moreover,  he 
was  rewarded  by  the  cup. 
*    I  have  mentioned  in  another  part  of  this  book  the  sales- 


I20         SCIENTIFIC   SALES   MANAGEMENT 

man  on  whom  I  called  to  win  a  national  prize.  This  particu- 
lar result  illustrates  very  well  the  value  of  having  a  salesman 
who  believes  in  your  advertising.  The  headquarters  of  this 
man  was  in  a  city  of  less  than  20,000.  He  had  one  other 
city  on  his  territory  with  a  population  of  28,000.  Aside 
from  that,  his  entire  territory  was  small  towns.  This  man, 
however,  believed  thoroughly  in  the  advertising  which  was 
being  done  on  that  particular  product.  He  was  enthusiastic 
and  he  understood  his  goods.  He  wasn't  a  brilliant  fellow. 
He  wasn't  a  flashy  man  —  he  was  a  conscientious  plodder. 
The  company  was  spending  a  barrel  of  money  to  advertise 
the  product.  I  am  frank  to  say  in  certain  cities  very  Uttle 
of  it  was  being  sold.  Many  salesmen  in  my  employ  were 
doing  Uttle  with  it. 

We  couldn't  seem  to  start  either  the  salesmen  or  the  mer- 
chants. From  headquarters,  the  head  of  the  company 
offered  a  gold  watch  to  the  salesman  east  of  Buffalo  who 
sold  the  most  of  the  product.  The  sales  to  new  customers 
counted  double. 

I  sent  one  of  my  little  scribbled  telegram  notes  down  to 
this  man  in  his  small  town  in  which  I  said:  "Jim,  I  am 
depending  upon  you  to  win  that  prize."  He  sent  back  to 
me  a  similar  note  which  read:  "I'll  do  my  best."  Bear  in 
mind  this  man  was  competing  with  salesmen  in  cities  like 
Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Pittsburg,  Albany,  etc. 
He  didn't  have  a  city  in  his  territory  over  28,000.  I  will  tell 
you  the  end  of  the  story  first  by  saying  he  came  out  second, 
being  beaten  by  a  very  narrow  margin  by  a  man  in  Boston 
who  sold  the  big  stores  there,  such  as  department  stores. 

After  the  contest  was  over  I  asked  him  to  tell  the  other 
salesmen  how  he  did  it.  He  gave  them  a  very  earnest  talk 
as  he  explained  his  methods.  He  said  he  always  carried 
with  him  copies  of  the  magazines  in  which  those  advertise- 
ments were  running.     It  was  his  method  first  to  tell  the 


CONTESTS   FOR   SALESMEN 


121 


merchant  the  names  of  these  different  magazines  and  to 
make  some  general  remarks  about  their  circulation.  Then, 
by  some  method  peculiarly  his  own,  he  succeeded  in  making 


THE  CBKIsrJAS  PXIZ7.  COillSST-  E1ID3  TO.lOSEb«   1!J    THE  ilNNEftS  MLL  BE 
/iSNOUKOSD  KKXI  (VEEXM! 

Ecturduy,   Docoobar  19th,    ondfl  th»  prlzo  Oonte«t  In  th»  Butterlna 
Department,    and  *a  wlil   annoiinoB  st  &b  early  a  dat»  aa  poa»lble  tha 
ncjas  of  the  :vlnners.      From  «  rough  eatlmate  of  th9  outooms,    W6  art)  pr^ 
•urn  tuat   the  prlzea  i\lll  be  well  aoatterad  Kaot,   Wiot,   north  and  Sou' 
wlah  we  ;»6ra  going  to  distribute  a  hundred  boxoa  of  the  olga/ 
of  the  few  ^e  are,   because  there  are  one  hundred  ealosaen   - 
"^  UB  hearty  and  liberal  support  ^  euppjrt  whlcl; 

^appre^ 

Unique  and  crude  cartoon  printed  on  mimeograph  in  connection  with 
a  Christmas  Prize  Contest. 

the  merchant  wait  while  he  read  one  advertisement  aloud. 
That  was  the  keynote.  The  copy  was  elegant — indeed  it  was 
about  as  good  as  I  ever  read  —  and  the  salesman  would  say 
to  the  merchant:  "This  is  what  the  woman  reads  in  the 
Ladies^  Home  Journal  about  this  product." 

He  made  a  list  of  the  merchants  in  the  whole  district.  If 
he  didn't  sell  a  merchant  the  first  time,  he  went  a  second  and 
a  third  time.  If  he  couldn't  sell  him  alone,  he  would  have 
his  manager  write  him  a  letter.  Finally,  if  this  didn't  work, 
he  would  have  the  manager  go  to  sec  him. 


122  SCIENTIFIC   SALES   MANAGEMENT 

The  Sidesman  made  it  his  business  to  talk  to  the  clerks 
in  these  stores  whenever  it  was  possible.  At  the  end  of  the 
contest  he  had  sold  ninety-eight  out  of  every  hundred  possi- 
bilities. I  have  always  considered  that  this  was  a  marvelous 
showing,  considering  the  fact  that  he  was  up  against  men  in 
such  big  cities.  There  was  no  quota  about  this  contest. 
It  was  volume  against  volume. 

Nobody  reaUzes  better  than  the  ^^Titer  that  retailers  are 
not  particularly  keen  on  national  advertising  campaigns. 
I  know  how  they  throw  cold  water  on  it  when  a  salesman 
attempts  to  tell  them  about  it.  Nevertheless,  it  is  a  fact 
that,  if  you  sell  your  advertising  to  the  salesmen,  they  in 
turn  can  and  will  sell  it  to  the  retailer. 


Contests  for  Salesmen  on 
a  ^lota  Basis 


Chapter  XI F 

Contests  for  Salesmen  on 
a  §luota  Basis 

SALESMEN  should  not  be  classed  on  a  flat  basis  if 
you  are  to  secure  a  maximum  of  response  from  them. 
It  is  not  fair  to  expect  the  new  salesman  to  sell  so 
many  goods  as  the  veteran  whose  salary  is  probably  double 
that  of  the  new  man's.  It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  the 
salesman  covering  crossroad  towns,  making  very  few  calls 
per  day,  should  sell  so  much  as  the  salesman  in  a  metropolitan 
district. 

Yet,  because  of  this  unequal  condition  in  affairs,  it  is  not 
necessary  to  sacrifice  all  the  good  of  the  spirit  of  competition. 
Two  biUiard  or  pool  players,  or  two  golf  players  of  unequal 
skill,  can  arrange  an  interesting  game  to  their  mutual  satis- 
faction.    Salesmen  should  be  handicapped  in  a  fair  way. 

There  are  generally  available  some  figures  on  which  to 
estimate  a  basis  of  expectation.  If  nothing  else  exists,  use 
the  salaries  as  a  basis.  You  may  find  that  these  salaries 
need  adjusting  after  you  have  used  them  as  quotas  for  a  time. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  nearly  always,  the  sales  manager  himself 
can,  with  fairness  to  everybody,  assign  a  quota  on  whatever 
he  wishes  to  sell.  It's  a  great  thing,  this  quota  arrangement. 
It  will  secure  response  and  results  when  everything  else  fails. 

I  have  time  and  time  again  worked  a  body  of  salesmen 
on  this  basis  with  great  success.  Suppose  for  instance,  you 
have  a  certain  product  which  you  desire  to  push.     Perhaps 


126  SCIENTIFIC   SALES   MANAGEMENT 

at  present  little  of  it  is  being  sold  by  the  men.  You  may 
have  talked  about  it  and  written  about  it,  but  results  have 
not  come. 

Assign  to  each  man  a  definite  amount  which  is  to  be  his 
quota  per  week  or  month.  Fix  this  so  that,  if  every  man 
sells  his  quota,  you  will  have  a  most  satisfactory  aggregate. 
In  assigning  these  quotas  give  the  new,  green  men  a  chance. 
Make  their  quotas  comparatively  small.  Give  your  top- 
notch  man  a  rather  stiff  quota.  As  a  rule  I  do  not  pubHsh 
each  man's  quota,  but  I  publish  a  general  bulletin  on  the 
percentages  and  privately  inform  each  man  of  his  quota. 
Nobody  knows  the  other  man's.  In  all  my  experience  I 
do  not  recall  a  single  complaint  that  I  had  been  unfair  in 
assigning  quotas. 

At  the  end  of  some  period  publish  a  bulletin  showing  the 
percentage  of  sales;  that  is,  the  percentage  of  quota  sales. 
Furnish  a  table  showing  the  standing  of  each  man. 

In  most  cases  this  will  work  out  about  as  follows.  The 
older,  more  conservative  men  with  the  larger  quotas  will  not 
respond  big  at  the  start.  When  the  first  bulletin  appears, 
the  little  fellows  will  lead.  Probably  one  of  the  new  men 
will  shine  out  way  ahead  of  the  others.  Often  he  isn't,  as  a 
whole,  a  successful  salesman,  but  he  sees  a  chance  here  and 
he  works. 

In  the  second  bulletin  these  weaker  men  lead  again.  But 
sooner  or  later  the  veterans  realize  that  you  mean  business. 
In  fact  they  have  been  loafing  a  bit,  believing  that  they 
could  spurt  when  near  the  home  stretch.  Then  something 
generally  happens.  One  or  two  of  the  big  men  begin  to  sell 
—  they  wake  up.  The  bulletin  becomes  more  interesting. 
The  little  fellows  are  being  pressed. 

At  the  end  of  the  contest,  as  a  rule,  one  of  the  better  sales- 
men wins.  Sometimes,  however,  the  small  man  strikes  a 
good  gait  and  he  wins  out.    Incidentally,  this  work  will 


PEBCEHlACB^jy^TOIJU— CAaraDJ£KAIS-   trrel-vT:  BrEoch  He  uses,  who  bear      the 

name   of   salesran,    to    averat;9   two 


Kershaw  .  -  -  -161^ 
Ahern,-  -  -  -  -loo^ 
Bloom;  ~  .  -  -  -144,=? 
Crowell   -   .    -    -154;6 

Hall 1555 

Daergett  -  -  .  .  96^ 
AdamB  -----  90^ 
Eritt  -----  Q5;C 

Eliven 72^' 

Biteault   -   -   .  .55^ 

Brown  -   ...   -  2=?? 

•    Bernhort   -   -   -  -14^ 

Biley 6^ 

This  loolie  pretty  good  for  the 
majority  of  the   saleeaen.       There 
are   a  few  aalesmen,    whose   showing 
is   not   creditable.       roreover, 
these  men,    who    are  well  do-m   to 
the   botton,    are   the  men  who  have 
th9  amall  quotas.        We  do  not  want 
to    say  aipleasant    thingo   in  this 
paper,    so    w  win  Just  leave   it   to 
those   on  the  bottom  of   the   list    to 
study  out   t.he  situation  for 
thcmselTee. 

The  Canned  Ifeat  business  is 
booming.  Our  good  Canned  Heat 
men,  Br.  Dorus  and  Mr.  Parker,  are 
turning  in  bi^  orders  now.  This 
is  the  harTest  tine.  There  is  no 
reason  why  the  Branch  House  aales- 
men should  not  bo   doing  as  well. 

Loolc  at   our  position   in   the 
Veribest  Qulzier.        Are  you 
satiafled  to  have  us   any  where 
except   at  the  top? 


cases  of  the  Tvins  weekly  during 
the    twenty-six  weeks   of  this  half 
yor.r.        There  will  te  nothing 
pleasant    said  to   ar/body  who   falls 
down.        This   is   the   easiest  pro- 
position the  Soap  Tforke  have  ever 
put   up  to   us. 

Mr.    Ahem  of  Horwioh  is  doing  very 
fine  work  with  the   ready  made    "ads". 
Almost    every  week  he  mails  to    this 
Office   several  nswsp^ers,    oontain- 
int    advertisements  of  his  ouEtomera 
on  Simon  Pure   lard  or  Star  Hams. 
Jim  is  a  great   believer  in  advertis- 
ing.       Judging   from  his   success  wltii 
Star  Hams  and  Simon  Pure  lard,   he 
muot   have   the   rig)it   idea. 

PEReB;'T:AGE  or  9.U0IA  i  ?.io;sd  meass 


SOAP     The   last    issue   of  the   little 
Soap  paper  gives   the 
on  the   Twins  up   to    date.        The 
Branch  House   saleeman  who  leads 
sold  171   casee   and   the  bottom  man 
sold   52  oQses.  We  want  to   see 

some   of  our  men   in   this  list   the 
»ext   time    the  paper  appears.        We 
have   two   or   three   men  on    the  pay 
roll  of   this   territory  who   can  go 
out    and    sell  ae  majiy  boxes   of 


Ahem  -  -  -  .  .178X 
Crowell   -    -   -    .I4l3^ 

Sturm II5X 

Bibeault  -  -  .  lOS^f 
Daggett  -  -  .  -  9^ 
Berrthart   -   -   .   -mg, 

Hall ^t,i 

Bliven 8^2 

Leonard  -  -   -   -  8^ 

Bloom  -----   7% 

Brltt 7^' 

Adams  -----  6}^ 
Kershaw  .   -    -    -  60j^ 

2"™ 53X 

Wain 44^ 

Debee  .   .   -   -   .  44^ 

rnii   ,^^•  ^„„»-     ^J'^^'"  ^^^  *^''^    cuamer  trade  on 
roll  of  honor     star   Hams  going  a  little  brisker. 
"o  matter  what    fancy  ham  any  local 
packer   in  your   to.»n  may  be  putting 
out,    one  of  our  STARS   la  fully  as 
good  aa  it.        If  you    Kuit   to  have 
a  big  day  on   Star  Hams,    take  one 
out    cf  your  Smoked  .-leat    room,    cut 
in    two  and  carry  half  of   it   with 
on  your  travels.       vrake  Jt  a 

There  ia  nothing  to 


Star  Ham   day. 


j:^?Sari?:i"-Th^:ra?n  T.i'^ziiT.  iri?-r-"vrw^?!'^r:n 

posaibly  two  or   three,    whom  le  box   «f   .<„.-.   .V,.    T.® . .  _:^.J'",    "?_? 


box  Of  cigars  that   this  method  will 
give  you   Burpriaing   results. 


ibly  two  or   three,    whom 
believe   in  one  week  can   Dell  an 
many  of   the  Twins    as   a.ny  man    in 
Br.   Atnour-B  organization.        They  Bon.t  forget   the    ftm-v  Bacon 

hHve  proved  it   in  oth-.r   things  and    star  Braokffst  BaSon  is  a  fi? 

thlB-Soap.        Remember,   yojr     Supt.     Boll  Star  Bacon 
exf/^ctB  avery  man   connect.<Qi    ;iithTHESE 


SALES    BULLETIN    WITH    TWO    TABLES    SHOWING 
PERCENTAGE    OF    QUOTAS    SOLD 


THE  QUOTA  BASIS  127 

often  show  you  some  good  timber  among  your  newer  men 
for  bigger  things. 

Sometimes  a  contest  of  this  sort  covers  several  things. 
You  can  run  it  on  various  counts.  Without  using  any 
quotas  at  all,  you  can  give  credit  for  different  things  on  a 
percentage  basis  before  making  up  a  total  score.  Thus,  you 
might  give  credit  for  such  things  as  number  of  different 
orders,  new  customers,  and  of  cases  of  certain  goods  sold. 
If  you  are  counting  one  for  each  case  of  a  line  of  cased  goods, 
you  might  give  five  times  the  credit  for  each  case  of  some 
particular  specialty  in  that  Une.  You  might  give  double 
count  if  the  customer  is  a  new  one. 

Sometimes  a  very  desirable  thing  to  do  is  to  establish 
quotas  based  on  each  man's  salary.  Thus,  you  may  decide 
that  a  man  earning  $25  per  week  ought  to  sell,  say,  $1500  per 
week.  If  that  is  true,  the  man  who  is  being  paid  $50  a  week 
ought  to  sell  $3000.  It  is  a  question  whether  the  traveling 
expenses  ought  not  to  enter  into  this  also.  On  the  other 
hand,  there  are  instances  where  this  may  not  be  fair  because 
some  salesman  would  have  a  territory  where  traveUng 
expenses  would  be  very  high.  He  may  be  just  as  good  a 
salesman  as  another  in  a  territory  where  the  traveling 
expenses  are  not  so  liigh.  On  the  whole,  therefore,  I  beUeve 
the  quota  should  be  based  only  on  the  salaries  paid. 

Then  you  have  before  you  what  is  virtually  a  commission 
basis  for  the  salesmen,  and  yet  no  one  is  really  working  on 
commission.  You  can  see,  however,  from  week  to  week 
and  month  to  month  the  percentage  of  the  quota  sold  by 
every  man.  This  will  often  develop  some  interesting  tilings. 
You  may  decide  that  the  low  cost  salesmen,  the  green  ones, 
are  really  more  profitable  men  than  the  older  men.  On  the 
contrary,  you  may  find  that  they  are  the  most  expensive 
that  you  have. 

Under  this  arrangement  I  never  tell  a  salesman  any  quota 


128  SCIENTIFIC   SALES   MANAGEMENT 

except  his  own.  I  do  assure  liim  that  every  man's  quota  is 
assigned  under  the  same  system,  so  that  if  I  tell  him  that 
Jones  is  selling  sixty-five  per  cent  of  his  quota,  while  he  is 
selling  only  fifty  per  cent,  he  knows  that  I  am  giving  him 
a  statement  which  is  fair  to  everybody  concerned. 


yudging  and  Stimulating 

Salesmen  by  Percentage 

of  Distribution 


Chapter  XV 

y^dgi^g  ^^d  Stimulating 

Salesmen  by  Percentage 

of  Distribution 

DISTRIBUTION,  particularly  of  an  advertised 
product,  is  an  important  thing.  For  the  sale  of 
any  product  a  large  distribution  is  wise.  It  is  far 
better  to  have  looo  merchants  selling  your  goods  than  to 
have  them  sold  by  only  300  merchants,  even  though  the  1000 
sell  only  the  same  amount  as  the  300.  Of  course,  generally 
the  1000  merchants  will  sell  more  than  the  300.  To  be  sure, 
to  sell  through  1000  merchants  entails  more  details  and 
more  expense,  but  the  owTier  is  surer  of  his  business  and  of 
its  permanency.  He  is  quite  certain  also  to  increase  his 
business  if  he  enlarges  his  distributing  factors. 

No  advertising  man  lives  who  can  write  copy  sufi&ciently 
strong  so  that  commercial  quantities  of  people  will  search 
for  and  demand  the  goods.  There  are  exceptions,  but  these 
are  rare.  You  must  make  it  easy  for  the  consumer  to  secure 
your  goods.  Sales,  for  the  most  part,  are  only  half  made 
when  your  advertisement  is  read.  The  sale  is  closed  more 
often  and  generally  when  the  reader  sees  either  your  goods, 
your  signs,  or  display  devices  in  the  stores  where  they  are 
kept. 

Consider  the  advertising  of  some  such  product  as  smoking 
tobacco  or  a  cereal.  Probably  few  advertisers  will  ever 
spend  any  more  money  than  the  proprietors  of  smoking 


132  SCIENTIFIC   SALES  MANAGEMENT 

tobacco  are  spending  today.  Let  us  say  that  an  advertise- 
ment of  a  tobacco  called  Prince  Charles  appears  on  the  back 
cover  of  the  Saturday  Evening  Post.  This  costs  $6000. 
The  man  who  has  never  advertised  will  probably  think  that 
this  advertisement  of  itself  will  produce  enormous  sales. 
Thousands  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  men  will  read  the 
advertisement  if  it  appears  in  the  Saturday  Evening  Post. 
Do  you  suppose,  however,  that  commercial  quantities  of 
these  men  on  the  same  day  or  the  next  day  will  leave  their 
ofl&ces  or  homes  and  go  into  a  store  demanding  a  package 
of  Prince  Charles  Tobacco?  Do  you  suppose  that,  even  if 
some  of  them  do  go  into  a  store  demanding  it,  they  will  go 
to  other  stores  in  case  they  do  not  find  it  in  the  first  store? 

Consider,  on  the  contrary,  the  man  who  reads  the  adver- 
tisement in  the  evening  as  he  goes  home  or  at  his  home. 
Perhaps  the  next  day,  or  even  a  week  or  two  later,  he  goes 
into  a  tobacco  store  to  buy  tobacco.  A  large  sign  telling 
about  Prince  Charles  Tobacco  confronts  him.  In  his  desire 
to  purchase  a  can  of  tobacco  he  looks  up  on  the  shelves 
where  there  are  a  lot  of  different  brands.  He  sees  a  number 
of  cans  of  Prince  Charles.     He  buys  a  can  of  Prince  Charles. 

Do  you  suppose  that  if  he  had  not  read  the  advertisement 
a  few  days  before  or  had  not  read  a  number  of  different 
advertisements  in  the  past  that  he  would  choose  that  brand? 
Do  you  suppose  that  commercial  quantities  of  such  men 
would  have  asked  for  that  tobacco  even  if  they  had  read  the 
advertisement  in  case  they  had  not  seen  the  sign  and  the 
cans  in  the  store? 

So  it  is  exceedingly  important,  if  you  are  to  make  a  suc- 
cess of  advertising,  that  you  have  your  goods  in  the  hands 
of  the  merchants.  It  is  often  difficult  to  make  a  new  adver- 
tiser see  this.  He  really  believes  that,  if  he  advertises  well, 
the  rest  will  go  easy.  He  must  be  made  to  see  that  the  parts 
his  own  salesmen  and  the  retailers  play  are  equally  important. 


PERCENTAGE   OF   DISTRIBUTION  133 

So,  anything  which  can  be  done  to  stimulate  extensive 
distribution  is  good.  Very  interesting  work  may  be  done 
with  salesmen  if  statistics  on  the  percentage  of  distribution 
are  compiled.  It  gives  you  another  basis  on  which  sales- 
men may  be  judged.  It  is  another  side  on  which  you  may 
appeal  to  them.     There  are  various  ways  of  doing  this. 

One  way  which  I  have  employed  successfully  is  to  have 
different  contests  and  bulletins  issued  on  the  number  of  new 
accounts  opened.  Tliis  is  not  as  intelligent  a  way  as  to  work 
by  percentage  of  distribution. 

To  work  effectively  with  percentage  the  advertiser  should 
compile  very  thorougUy  his  mailing  lists  or  Ms  list  of  possible 
buyers.  This  list  should  include  every  State,  city,  town,  and 
village  comprising  his  territory,  and  all  the  possible  buyers. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  obtain  this,  particularly  if  these  buyers 
are  retail  merchants.  It  is  merely  a  clerical  task.  Use  your 
mercantile  agency  book  as  a  basis.  Work  over  your  ledger. 
Submit  your  Ust  to  the  salesmen  for  their  additions  or  cor- 
rections. Eventually  you  should  have  one  of  almost  all 
possible  buyers.  This  fist  should  be  arranged  by  towns 
and  cities  and  also  by  territories. 

Now  take  the  territory  of  each  salesman.  For  instance, 
Smith  covers  about  one  hundred  towns.  Your  mailing  list 
shows  that  there  are  1162  possible  names  on  Smith's  terri- 
tory. These  are  di\dded  among  his  one  hundred  towns. 
Now  give  the  number  of  his  customers;  that  is,  the  people 
who  are  buying  the  specific  article  on  which  you  desire 
distribution.  Then  show  the  percentage  of  distribution  in 
each  town.  You  use  this  to  strengthen  up  the  weak  spots 
in  Smith's  territory.  Show  the  percentage  of  distribution 
for  Smith's  entire  territory.  This  is  used  to  compare  Smith 
with  the  other  salesmen.  Issue  a  bulletin  showing  the  stand- 
ing of  all  the  men.  Talk  about  it  and  say  you  want  to 
increase  the  percentage. 


134 


SCIENTIFIC  SALES   MANAGEMENT 


Saaes  of  oitiei 

SD.  of  naosB 

Sumter  of 

Faraentaee  of 

There  dlatrltutlon 

on  nallise 

customera 

distributicot 

13  under  SCff> 

list 

ualne  product 

insosla 

65 

Z2 

25  ^ 

WatBrtai7 

401 

57 

13 

Bridgeport 

471 

6X 

12 

tern  HaTen 

676 

133 

20 

Stamford 

146 

42 

28 

Port  Chester 

69 

IB 

26 

Creenwioh 

6a 

7 

10 

East  Borwlk 

10 

0 

0 

Horwalk 

46 

9 

20 

S.  KoiTWlk 

«2 

7 

21 

Westport 

i 

1 

16 

SaneBtnrtIr 

4 

0 

0 

Sew  Boohelle 

108 

0 

Ht.  Vernon 

96 

0 

UasaLroneak 

86 

0 

EarrlsOBl 

14 

0 

i^e 

Vi 

0 

Collin BTlllo 

9 

2 

u 

Hew  Hllf ord 

17 

3 

27 

Stratford- 

£0 

e 

20 

Eerlden 

1S7 

13 

e 

Sew  London 

82 

15 

18 

Sorvioii 

99 

12 

u 

Slddletown 

64 

13 

20 

Eo<vtTllle 

37 

2 

5 

Williaaatio 

36 

7 

19 

Chioopee 

34 

4 

IS 

Chioopee  Tails 

42 

U 

26 

Greenfield 

21 

3 

14 

2699 

452 

15;< 

Table  compiled  showing  list  of  towns,  number  of  possible  buyers, 
number  of  customers  who  bought  specialty,  and  percentage  of  distribu- 
tion. 


PERCENTAGE   OF   DISTRIBUTION  135 

Then,  one  month  later,  issue  another  bulletin  showing  the 
relative  standing  of  the  salesmen  and  the  percentage  of  each, 
also  the  percentage  of  the  entire  territory.  Make  up  this 
later  bulletin  by  adding  the  new  customers  obtained  during 
the  month. 

To  illustrate  by  an  actual  case: 

There  is  a  large  jobber  in  southern  New  England  who 
covers  all  of  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island,  and  the  greater 
part  of  western  Massachusetts.  For  two  years  they  have 
been  running  advertising  in  the  newspapers.  About  three 
times  per  year  they  have  printed  a  large  advertisement  in 
the  paper  carrying  the  names  of  all  the  merchants  who 
sold  the  advertised  specialty.  In  connection  with  tliis  work 
they  have  a  mailing  list  showing  every  possible  buyer. 
This  is  arranged  by  towTis  and  cities,  also  by  territories. 

When  the  first  advertisement  appeared  about  two  years 
ago,  statistics  were  compiled  showing  the  names  of  the 
towns,  the  number  of  buyers  in  each  town,  the  number  of 
those  who  had  bought  the  advertised  specialty,  and  the 
percentage.  This  immediately  revealed  a  large  discrep- 
ancy. In  some  towTis  a  percentage  of  fifty  to  sixty  per  cent 
was  shown,  while  in  others,  apparently  equally  promising, 
there  was  only  ten  per  cent.  After  these  figures  were 
published  vigorous  work  was  done  with  the  sales  force  to 
strengthen  the  weak  places. 

After  the  second  big  advertisement  appeared,  another 
set  of  figures  was  prepared  and  compared  with  the  former 
list. 

This  has  been  going  on  for  about  two  years.  It  has 
revealed  to  the  proprietors  many  remarkable  things  of  which 
they  were  unaware.  It  has  resulted  in  some  changes  of 
territory.  In  some  cases  additional  salesmen  had  to  be 
provided,  in  other  cases  the  territory  of  certain  salesmen 
has  been  increased. 


136  SCIENTIFIC  SALES   MANAGEMENT 

Under  this  method  you  surely  and  quickly  increase  the 
number  of  customers  without  much  question.  You  also 
increase  the  aggregate  business  of  the  salesmen  as  well  as 
the  aggregate  volume  for  the  entire  business. 

Of  course  this  sort  of  work  almost  always  shows  up  some 
weaknesses  in  the  allotment  of  territory.  At  the  beginning, 
when  you  call  on  salesmen  to  sell  more  people,  they  w'ill 
tell  you  that  they  can't  do  it,  because  they  haven't  the 
time.  They  will  tell  you  that,  if  they  put  more  time  in  a 
certain  town,  they  cannot  cover  their  territory.  Generally 
they  dislike  to  give  up  any  territory.  They  prefer  to  cover 
the  large  trade.  They  think  and  often  know  that  their 
aggregate  sales  will  suflfer  if  they  have  to  cover  the  towns 
more  thoroughly.  They  prefer  to  touch  only  the  high 
spots. 

The  salesman  is  often  correct  when  he  says  he  hasn't 
the  time,  but  the  firm  will,  in  nearly  every  case,  make  more 
money  if  thoroughness  is  insisted  upon.  In  fact,  in  the 
end,  the  firm  will  probably  be  sho^\Ti  conclusively  that  some 
men  have  too  much  territory.  In  such  cases  I  believe  in 
changing  and  taking  on  more  men  or  giving  the  territory  to 
men  who  can  take  more.  Now,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
situation  is  often  cleared  up  by  all  the  salesmen  reaHzing 
that  they  can  use  their  time  more  profitably  and  that  their 
work  can  be  planned  so  that  they  can  make  extra  calls.  In 
other  words,  they  find  that  they  can  make  themselves  more 
efficient. 

The  sales  manager  should  co-operate  with  the  salesman, 
using  some  of  the  things  mentioned  earlier  in  this  book, 
making  it  unnecessary  for  him  to  spend  so  much  time  with 
each  customer  and  virtually  turning  liim  into  more  of  a 
closer  and  less  of  a  missionary. 


Hiring  Salesmen 


Chapter  XVI 
Hiring  Salesmen 

THE  advocates  of  Scientific  Management  lay  a  great 
deal  of  stress  on  scientifically  selecting  the  workers 
best  fitted  for  the  task.  I  do  not  believe  that  any 
sales  manager  has  ever  had  an  opportunity  to  avail  himself 
of  laboratory  tests  for  selecting  salesmen  such  as  have  been 
available  in  some  of  the  experiments  in  Scientific  Manage- 
ment.    Such  experiments  would,  no  doubt,  be  of  great  value. 

There  are  certain  ideas  which  may  be  of  use  to  a  man 
selecting  salesmen.  Most  of  these,  however,  have  to  do 
with  the  past  and  previous  history  of  the  man  rather  than 
with  his  physiological  or  mental  make-up.  If  any  man 
could  evolve  a  fast  and  fixed  rule  for  picking  salesmen,  he 
would  become  enormously  valuable  to  a  selling  organiza- 
tion. To  hire  salesmen  is  an  art.  Experience  is  about 
the  best  aid.  The  theme  of  this  book,  however,  has  been 
not  to  lay  a  great  deal  of  stress  on  securing  unusually 
good  salesmen,  but  rather  on  the  training  and  handling  of 
average  men  so  that  they  become  good  salesmen.  "Star" 
salesmen  are  valuable  when  you  find  them,  but  the  real 
sales  manager  will  have  to  attain  his  success  with  an  organi- 
zation of  average  men. 

However,  there  are  a  few  things  which  are  of  help  in 
hiring  salesmen.  I  confess  that  the  more  men  I  have 
engaged  the  more  superstitious  I  have  become  on  seemingly 
minor  points.  Time  and  time  again  in  tlic  latter  part  of 
my  work  I  have  rejected  men  for  these  minor  things.     Yet 


I40         SCIENTIFIC  SALES  MANAGEMENT 

I  have  felt  that  the  lack  of  results  I  often  received  when  I 
violated  some  of  these  ideas  has  vindicated  me  in  follow- 
ing them  since.  Some  of  these  things  are  so  minor  that  I 
hardly  dare  to  mention  them,  although  I  believe  in  them 
myself.     Costly  experience  has  taught  me  their  value. 

For  instance,  when  I  first  began  to  take  on  salesmen  I 
was  fooled  several  times  by  good-looking  men.  I  mean 
men  who  looked  good  all  over,  dress,  features,  and  figure. 
I  finally  arrived  at  a  point  where  I  dared  not  hire  a 
"good-looker,"  unless  I  knew  all  about  him.  Foolish, 
perhaps,  but  I  played  safe. 

One  of  the  successful  big  department  managers  for  Armour 
&  Co.  is  somewhat  awkward  and  homely.  I  have  been 
told  that,  when  Mr.  Philip  Armour  hired  him  some  thirty 
years  ago,  he  did  so  because,  as  he  remarked:  "He  is  so 
homely  that  he  will  have  to  hustle  to  make  a  showing." 

Another  thing  which  has  influenced  me  greatly  is  an  idea 
that  fleshy  men,  or  men  of  the  temperament  which  make 
for  flesh,  will  not  be  so  industrious  and  faithful  as  slim, 
wiry  men.  I  appreciate  that  the  jovial  type  of  fleshy  man 
is  popular,  and  that  popularity  makes  sales.  On  the  other 
hand,  I  have  seldom  secured  any  straight,  hard,  routine 
selling  results  from  these  easy-going  men.  I  know  there 
are  exceptions.  I  have  had  some  in  my  owti  organiza- 
tion. Nevertheless,  on  the  average,  I  believe  the  fellow 
whose  physique  shows  him  to  be  a  conscientious  plodder 
will  win  out  ahead  of  the  other  ty^pe.  Now  let  the  hard 
working,  successful,  fat  salesmen  come  at  me  ^^^th  their 
exceptions  and  I  will  acknowledge  them. 

There  is  one  thing  in  which  I  believe  most  thoroughly, 
and  that  is  a  complete  business  history  of  the  candidate. 
Insist  that  the  man  give  in  detail  an  account  of  every  posi- 
tion that  he  has  held  since  leaving  school.  Permit  no  gap 
in  this  history.     Ex-perience  has  taught  me  that  in  these 


HIRING   SALESMEN  141 

gaps  often  lurks  something  which  is  not  creditable  to  the 
candidate. 

Suppose  the  man  has  been  out  of  school  fifteen  years  and 
during  that  time  has  held  eight  positions.  I  include  his 
first  jobs  as  a  boy  out  of  school.  This  is  what  is  called  a 
long  history.  You  will  make  no  mistake  nine  times  out  of 
ten  if  you  reject  the  candidate  with  the  long  history. 
Before  so  doing  you  can  listen  to  the  various  reasons  for 
changes;  you  can  weigh  the  evidence,  but  you  are  safe, 
except  about  once  in  ten  times,  in  rejecting  a  man  who  has 
had  a  lot  of  different  jobs.  In  my  early  experience  I  didn't 
beheve  in  this  as  I  do  now.  My  superiors  often  annoyed 
me  by  criticizing  my  work  in  hiring  a  man  with  a  long 
history,  but  I  gradually  saw  the  wisdom  of  their  policy. 
A  drifter,  a  move-about  man  is  not,  as  a  rule,  a  good  man 
for  you  to  hire.  He  may  be  doing  good  to  himself,  he 
may  be  making  progress,  but  even  so  you  have  no  desire 
to  conduct  a  school  through  which  salesmen  may  pass. 

Study  the  history  of  some  of  your  failures  and  see  whether, 
if  you  had  followed  this  policy,  it  would  not  have  kept 
you  out  of  them. 

It  is  a  good  thing,  if  you  hire  a  number  of  salesmen, 
to  have  apphcation  blanks.  These,  when  filled  out,  make 
valuable  references.  Below  I  give  a  copy  of  an  employ- 
ment blank  used  by  one  large  corporation.  It  can  be 
adapted  to  any  business.  If  only  a  few  are  needed,  they 
can  be  struck  off  by  a  mimeograph  or  typewriter.  The 
blank  shown  on  next  page  is  used  as  supplementary  to  a  bond 
application  and  is  somewhat  more  complete  on  that  account. 

Gorgon  Graham  said  to  his  son  in  his  famous  letters: 
"Be  slow  to  hire  and  quick  to  fire."  It  is  rather  a  good 
rule.  Gorgon  Graham  meant,  and  I  know  because  I  was 
trained  in  the  organization  which  made  Gorgon  Graham 
possible,  that  when    a    man   shows    himself   to  be  wrong 


142  SCIENTIFIC   SALES  MANAGEMENT 

Application  of for  position 

in  the  capacity  of 

APPLICANT  WILL  PLEASE  ANSWER  THE   FOLLOWING  QUESTIONS 

(Answers  will  bo  considered  confidential) 


Name  in  full 

Age 

Residence, 

P.  0.  Address, 

Single,  Married  or  Widower? 

Do  you  live  with  your  parents? 

How  many  members  in  your  family;  how 
many  of  them  are  dependent  upon  you  for 
support? 


What  is  the  position  desired? 


WTiat  previous  business  experience  have 
you  had  that  would  enable  you  to  satisfac- 
torily fill  the  position  for  which  you  apply? 


Have  you  ever  been  discharged  from  any 
situation?     If  so,  give  reasons. 


Have  you  ever  been  in  arrears  or  in  default 
in  any  position  you  have  ever  held? 


Are  you  a  habitual  user  of  intoxicating 
liquors? 


To  what  extent  do  you  indulge  in  the  use 
of  intoxicants? 


Are  you  a  member  of  any  military  organ- 
ization?    If  so,  give  name. 


Have  you  ever  speculated;    and  do  you 
occasionally  speculate  now? 


Have  you  ever  given  surety  bond?     If  so, 
give  name  of  Bond  Company. 

At  what  salary  would  you  be  willing  to 
begin? 


-Amount,   $_ 


f  Father  _ 
Give  name  of  your  parents  i 

I  Mother 


Father's  business 


Address 


HIRING  SALESMEN  143 

REMARKS 


I  certify  the  answers  to  the  above  questions  are  correct. 
Date 191 


Signature 


The  above  applicant  was  employed  by  me 191. 

at  the  rate  of  S per  annum  in 


Department  as time   commencing   from 

191 


APPROVED: 


radically,  such  as  a  tendency  to  be  dishonest  or  weak 
morally,  you  should  be  quick  to  fire.  On  the  contrary, 
however,  a  sales  manager,  if  he  is  slow  to  hire,  has  satis- 
fied himself  that  the  fundamental  things  about  the  sales- 
man are  right.  He  can  then  come  close  to  building  him 
into  the  sort  of  man  he  wants,  even  though  he  may  come 
across  certain  things  that  may  discourage  him  in  this 
process. " 

Another  sage  merchant  said  to  one  of  his  employees: 
"Don't  kick  if  I  kick.  If  you  are  worth  correcting,  you 
are  worth  keeping.  I  don't  waste  time  cutting  specks  out 
of  rotten  apples." 

In  connection  with  the  matter  of  upbuilding  a  sales  force 
I  feel  sure  that  it  is  most  important  to  keep  out  any  of 
the  wrong  sort  of  men.  Salesmen  measure  themselves  by 
comparing  themselves  with  others  doing  the  same  kind  of 
work.  It  is  detrimental,  therefore,  to  have  poor  men  in 
the  force  with  whom  they  can  compare.  The  sales  manager 
is  a  good  deal  like  the  present  day  successful  agriculturalist 
who  selects  the  seed  which  he  is  to  plant  with  the  greatest 


144  SCIENTIFIC   SALES   MANAGEMENT 


< 

M 
1-J 
as 
O 

55 

O 

< 
M 

ft 

(-►JO 

w      B 
Pi 

s 

W 

1 
a 

< 

w 

>< 

s 

w 

O 
< 

o 
H 

< 

o 

S     ■ 
o 

Bj 

fa 

< 

a 

o 

HIRING  SALESMEN 


145 


IS 

o 

< 

8 

< 

m 

Oi 
Q 

Id 

a 

146  SCIENTIFIC  SALES   MANAGEMENT 

of  care.  It  is  from  this  good  seed  that  he  harvests  the  best 
crops.  So  with  the  dairyman  who  is  interested  in  upbuild- 
ing a  herd.  He  is  very  careful  that  the  stock  which  he 
brings  into  his  herd  is  of  the  right  sort. 

The  sales  manager  may  well  hesitate  before  taking  into 
his  sales  force  any  but  the  right  sort  of  men.  He  need 
not  hesitate  a  minute  to  weed  them  out  when  he  finds  he 
has  the  wrong  sort. 


How  to   Conduct  a    Trade 
Promotion  Department 


Chapter  XFII 

How  to   Conduct  a   Tirade 
Promotion  Department 

IN  Scientific  Sales  Management  it  is  well  to  watch  old 
customers  as  well  as  to  try  for  new  trade.  This  is, 
of  course,  self-evident,  and  everybody  intends  to  do 
it.  Nevertheless,  in  many  businesses  an  investigation  has 
revealed  the  fact  that  there  is  nothing  done  to  automatically 
bring  to  the  attention  of  the  proper  parties  the  fact  that 
old  customers  have  reduced  their  purchases  or  stopped 
buying  entirely.  Perhaps  in  a  small  business  the  old  trade 
can  be  looked  after  without  system,  although  in  any  busi- 
ness a  regular  mode  of  procedure  is  better  than  haphazard 
work. 

The  sales  manager  who  desires  to  look  after  a  large 
number  of  accounts  can  easily  do  so  with  the  aid  of  the 
auditor  or  the  ledger  clerk.  Sheets  of  paper  should  be 
ruled  to  carry  a  list  of  names.  Such  sheets  might  carry  from 
twenty-five  to  fifty  names.  Opposite  the  names  should  be 
from  twelve  to  fifteen  columns.  The  nature  of  the  business 
determines  how  frequent  it  is  well  to  have  information  on 
amount  of  purchases. 

Suppose  that  the  sales  manager  desires  information 
covering  each  quarter.  The  auditor  or  ledger  clerk  copies 
in  the  space  provided  on  the  trade  promotion  sheets  all 
the  names  on  the  ledger.     Opposite  each  name  in  one  of 


ISO  SCIENTIFIC   SALES  MANAGEMENT 

the  columns  he  writes  the  amount  purchased  during  the 
last  three  months. 

This  is  not  a  big  task,  but  it  is  worth  many  times  the  cost 
of  the  labor.  The  bookkeeper  does  not  have  to  do  the 
entire  ledger  in  one  month.  The  list  may  be  divided  into 
three  di\dsions  and  one  third  of  the  list  covered  each  month, 
so  that  the  sales  manager  has,  every  three  months,  a  state- 
ment of  the  purchases  for  all  customers. 

With  this  information  in  hand  the  sales  manager  can 
accomplish  great  things.  In  case  of  a  large  business  he 
should  use  a  set  of  form  letters  which  his  stenographer  will 
send  out  to  certain  names  on  the  Hst.  Thus  he  may  decide 
to  write  only  to  those  who  failed  to  buy  anything.  A  letter 
is  then  sent  out  to  such  names.  It  is  advisable  to  have  this 
letter  go  out  from  the  largest,  or  home  office.  It  should 
apparently  be  signed  by  the  highest  man  in  authority  who 
could  with  propriety  sign  such  a  letter.  The  letter  should 
express  regret  that  the  merchant  has  failed  to  buy.  It 
should  inquire  if  anything  has  occurred  in  his  relations  with 
the  house  which  has  been  unsatisfactory.  It  offers  to 
correct  such  shortcomings  if  the  merchant  will  kindly 
state  them,  etc.  It  generally  ends  by  some  positive  state- 
ments about  the  goods  sold  by  the  house,  the  service  it 
ofifers,  etc. 

Again  the  sales  manager  may  decide  to  have  another 
style  of  letter  go  out  to  those  whose  purchases  have  been 
less  than  the  same  three  months  of  a  year  ago. 

These  letters,  if  done  properly,  will  bring  a  large  per- 
centage of  answers.  At  least  two  more  letters  should  be 
sent  to,  those  who  do  not  answer. 

Many  interesting  and  profitable  things  will  be  developed 
by  the  answers.  ,  Sometimes  there  is  nothing  the  trouble 
and  the  letter  merely  starts  the  customer  buying.  I  have 
seen  many  instances  where  a  letter  from  the  home  office 


TRADE   PROMOTION  DEPARTMENT        151 

pleases  the  retail  merchant.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is 
sometimes  something  the  matter  and  the  sales  manager  has 
a  chance  to  dig  into  it.  After  about  everything  has  been 
done  by  the  home  office  which  can  be  done,  then  the  next 
step  in  the  work  is  to  put  the  answers  and  the  results  into 
the  j&eld.  A  synopsis  of  the  answers  is  sent  to  the  branch 
house  or  to  the  salesmen  covering  the  territory.  Comments 
on  the  various  cases  are  made  by  the  main  office  and  a  reply 
requested  from  the  salesmah  or  local  sales  manager.  This 
again  often  develops  interesting  things. 

The  cost  of  this  sort  of  work  is  comparatively  little.  There 
is  no  way,  however,  in  which  an  equal  amount  of  money 
will  produce  similar  results. 

I  will  describe  an  actual  department  which  illustrates  the 
workings.  This  department  was  installed  about  five  years 
ago  by  one  of  the  largest  and  most  successful  sales  organiza- 
tions in  America.  It  operates  about  two  hundred  and 
fifty  local  branch  houses,  each  running  its  own  ledger  with 
an  average  six  hundred  accounts.  It  was  proposed  that, 
from  the  main  office,  a  trade  promotion  department  should 
cover  every  ledger  in  the  country. 

A  bright  young  man  who  had  graduated  from  the  ranks 
of  the  stenographers  was  placed  in  charge.  He  was  not 
by  any  means  a  big  or  expensive  man.  He  was  faithful, 
careful,  and  persistent.  He  used  from  two  to  three  stenog- 
raphers only,  covered  the  United  States,  and  accomplished 
big  results. 

The  traveling  auditors  handled  the  trade  promotion  data. 
This  was  on  sheets  similar  to  those  mentioned  above.  They 
used  these  about  every  other  audit,  which  means  that  about 
once  in  five  months  they  secured  the  trade  promotion 
information. 

All  the  names  on  the  ledger  arc  placed  on  the  sheets 
opposite  the  twelve  columns,  because  the  fiscal  year  is  di- 


152  SCIENTIFIC   SALES   MANAGEMENT 

vided  into  twelve  periods.  The  auditor  writes  opposite 
each  name  the  number  of  goods  bought  during  each  period 
since  the  last  time  that  he  compiled  the  information.  If 
nothing  has  been  bought,  he  leaves  the  name  on  and  shows 
a  blank  space. 

From  the  main  office  the  trade  promotion  department 
sends  out  the  letters,  signing  them  in  longhand  merely  with 
the  name  of  the  company.  Imitation  t3q3ewritten  letters 
are  used  and  the  salutation  is  matched  in. 

It  is  a  fact  that  the  receipt  of  these  letters  from  the  main 
office  in  many  cases  flatters  the  recipient.  He  has  bought 
in  the  past  from  the  branch  house,  but  he  has  probably 
known  only  a  salesman.  His  business  may  not  be  very  big, 
but  he  realizes  for  the  first  time  that,  miles  away  at  the 
home  office,  the  company  has  noticed  that  he  failed  to  buy 
for  a  month  or  two. 

Once  when  I  was  the  local  manager  for  a  large  concern 
a  letter  similar  to  this  was  sent  out  from  the  main  office  to  a 
small  German  merchant.  I  shall  never  forget  the  enthu- 
siasm which  he  displayed  in  coming  to  me  and  telling  me 
about  this  matter.  He  was  not  buying  of  us  chiefly  because 
he  could  not  pay  his  bills  as  promptly  as  we  would  require, 
and  our  local  credit  man  was  obliged  to  be  short  with  him. 
He  told  me  that  he  answered  the  letter  and  told  the  company 
that  it  was  not  because  he  did  not  like  me,  or  that  he  did 
not  want  to  buy  through  me.  The  result  was  that  we  were 
able  to  sell  this  man  in  a  limited  way  and  secure  our  money 
promptly. 

Under  the  system  described,  if  no  answer  is  received, 
the  department  mails  out  a  second  and  third  letter.  They 
are  able  to  secure  answers  from  a  large  percentage. 

Then  the  answers,  or  synopsis  of  them,  are  mailed  to  the 
local  manager  vnih  a  request  that  he  straighten  out  whatever 
needs  attention.     Finally,  after  the  manager  has  reported, 


TRADE   PROMOTION   DEPARTMENT        153 

a  summary  is  mailed  to  the  territory  superintendent.  Many 
loose  strings  are  discovered  and  tied. 

I  recollect  an  instance  in  my  own  work  while  I  was  general 
sales  manager  that  considerable  correspondence  was  sent 
to  me  about  a  case  in  a  Massachusetts  city.  A  merchant 
in  that  city  had  written  that  our  local  men  were  not  cour- 
teous. He  said  that  they  had  insulted  his  son.  I  wrote 
the  man  a  tactful  note,  stating  that  I  wished  to  meet  him 
the  next  time  I  was  in  the  city.  I  told  him  that  I  had 
instructed  our  local  manager  to  call  in  the  meantime  and 
talk  it  over  with  him.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  local  manager 
fixed  the  matter  up.  Even  so,  in  a  few  weeks  I  was  in  the 
city  and  I  met  the  man.  The  whole  affair  was  simple,  but 
he  had  been  genuinely  mad.  He  had  ordered  a  small 
amount  of  goods  late  one  afternoon.  Our  deliveries  had 
stopped  and  our  wagons  were  all  out.  One  of  the  merchant's 
own  wagons  happened  to  be  within  a  few  doors  of  our  place 
and  our  shipping  clerk  bundled  up  the  order  and  placed  it 
in  the  merchant's  wagon,  which  was  in  charge  of  his  son. 
Probably  the  son  and  our  shipper  had  passed  a  few  words, 
and,  as  a  result,  the  man  had  stopped  buying. 

But  by  a  little  system  worked  thousands  of  miles  away 
something  had  been  accomplished.  We  had  discovered 
that  the  man  had  stopped  buying,  that  he  was  angry,  that 
our  shipper  had  used  poor  judgment,  and  finally  we  im- 
pressed upon  the  merchant  that  we  wanted  to  do  business 
with  him  in  the  correct  way.  As  a  result  we  secured  his 
business.  Under  ordinary  methods  that  man  might  have 
stayed  away  several  years,  if  not  permanently. 

This  department  does  other  things  similar  to  the  work 
mentioned  in  this  book.  When  they  are  working  a  locality 
with  their  trade  promotion  letters  they  search  the  mer- 
cantile agency  book  for  all  possible  buyers.  They  dis- 
cover many  names  which  are  not  on  the  ledger  at  all.      They 


154         SCIENTIFIC  SALES  MANAGEMENT 

send  lists  of  these  possible  buyers  to  the  local  manager, 
co\^ering  every  city,  town,  village,  or  hamlet  in  his  territory. 
They  ask  him  why  these  names  are  not  being  sold.  This 
develops  new  accounts.  Virtually  the  territory  is  gone 
o\-er  with  a  fine  tooth  comb. 

Try  this  work  in  the  w^ay  adapted  to  your  own  business. 
Install  a  modest  trade  promotion  department  and  see  the 
results. 


The  Salesman's  Expense 
Account 


Chapter  XVIII 

The  Salesman's  Expense 
Account 

EXPENSE  accounts  have  much  to  do  with  sales 
efficiency  because  sales  efficiency  is  measured  by 
cost-to-sell,  and  the  expense  account  enters  into 
it  largely. 

As  a  rule,  the  troubles  with  expense  accounts  occur 
because  the  salesmen  are  not  properly  instructed  as  to 
what  it  is  proper  to  call  expense.  A  definite  set  of  rules  as 
to  the  poUcy  of  the  house  should  be  made.  The  salesmen 
should  know  and  understand  these. 

It  isn't  necessary  to  tell  here  what  the  legitimate  traveling 
expenses  for  each  line  of  business  should  be.  A  few  general 
ideas  may  be  of  value. 

In  the  first  place,  a  salesman  should  have  a  city  or  town 
which  is  called  his  headquarters.  This  may  or  may  not  be 
the  same  city  as  the  office  to  which  he  reports.  When  he 
is  at  his  headquarters  he  is  supposed  to  board  and  house 
himself.  On  this  account  good  judgment  in  selecting  head- 
quarters will  effect  large  economy  and  at  the  same  time 
make  living  pleasanter  for  a  salesman. 

If  a  man  covers  a  territory  which  is  some  distance  from 
the  main  office,  and  reports  to  this  main  office  only  once  a 
month  or  once  a  week,  it  will  be  much  better  to  give  that 
man  a  headquarters  in  the  center  of  his  territory.  It  is  at 
this  point  that  he  should  have  his  home.     Then  he  would 


ISS         SCIENTIFIC  SALES  MANAGEMENT 

be  home  more  nights  than  if  he  lived  in  the  city  occupied 
by  the  main  office.  Moreover,  the  cost  of  having  him 
report  to  the  office  at  stated  periods  will  be  less  than  the 
amount  sa\-ed. 

In  numerous  cases  after  looking  over  a  salesman's  terri- 
tory and  talking  with  him  I  have  changed  his  headquarters 
to  advantage.  I  have  even  paid  the  expenses  of  moving 
his  family  and  have  saved  this  extra  cost  in  a  few  months. 
Whenever  a  salesman's  cost-to-sell  is  too  high,  it  is  my 
practise  to  look  into  this  matter  of  headquarters  most 
carefully. 

When  a  man  is  away  from  his  headquarters,  the  firm  pays 
for  his  meals.  If  he  is  away  over  night,  it  pays  for  his  room. 
Of  course  it  pays  his  traveling  expenses  or  railroad  fare. 

The  question  of  what  should  be  done  on  car  fares,  bus 
hire,  etc.,  should  be  gone  into  carefully  and  be  well  under- 
stood by  the  salesman  and  the  management. 

Whether  a  man  should  use  parlor  car  seats,  compartments 
in  sleeping  cars,  rooms  with  bath,  expensive  hotels,  etc.,  is 
easily  decided  by  the  nature  of  the  business.  Then  there 
are  incidentals  like  laundry,  cost  of  traveling  bags,  etc., 
which  can  be  settled  once  for  all.  These  points  ought  to  be 
incorporated  in  the  rules  at  the  outset.  Many  unpleasant 
misunderstandings  will  be  avoided  if  the  house  clearly 
defines  its  policy. 

I  ad\'ocate  placing  one  person  nominally  in  charge  of  the 
expense  accounts.  He  should  figure  at  least  as  being  the 
one  who  is  responsible  for  all  rulings  on  such  matters.  He 
may  consult  his  chief  over  certain  salesmen,  but  he  is  the 
one  who  really  appears  at  least  to  finally  settle  such  matters. 

The  method  employed  by  one  large  corporation  is  an 
excellent  one.  They  have  a  Travelers'  Expense  Depart- 
ment which  is  in  charge  of  a  competent  man. 

This  man  issues  all  the  funds  used  for  expenses,  no  matter 


SALESMAN'S   EXPENSE  ACCOUNTS  159 

who  the  traveler  is.  Everybody  who  needs  expense  money 
goes  to  him.  Even  if  the  head  of  the  concern  himself  were 
to  take  a  business  trip,  he  would  call  on  this  man  for  funds 
and  would  account  to  him  at  the  end  of  the  month  for  these 
funds. 

Once  each  month  the  department  mails  one  of  its  own 
expense  books  to  every  traveling  man.  This  is  accompanied 
by  a  letter  of  credit  for  about  the  amount  the  salesman  will 
need.  Because  this  concern  is  very  large  and  has  numerous 
branches  the  salesman  easily  draws  money  with  his  letter 
of  credit  as  he  needs  it.  The  proposition  would  be  just  the 
same  if  he  were  mailed  a  check.  Of  course  in  the  case  of 
this  big  corporation  they  save  the  use  of  an  enormous 
amount  of  money  by  giving  the  traveling  man  a  letter  of 
credit  to  be  drawn  as  he  needs  it. 

Should  the  salesman  need  more  money  than  has  been 
provided  by  the  department,  he  is  supposed  to  call  for  it  in 
arhple  time.  He  is  told  in  the  rules  that  he  is  expected  to 
foresee  this  and  not  to  telegraph  for  money  except  at  his 
own  expense. 

At  the  end  of  each  month  the  salesman  makes  up  his 
expense  account.  In  the  meantime  the  money  for  the 
following  month  and  a  new  expense  book  has  been  sent 
him.  If  the  salesman  has  drawn  more  money  than  he  used, 
he  encloses  his  check  for  the  balance.  If  he  has  spent  more 
money  than  he  has  drawn,  the  department  sends  liim  a 
check  to  balance  as  soon  as  the  monthly  account  is  received. 
It  is  not  necessary  for  the  salesman  to  have  money  due  him, 
because  he  should  foresee  before  the  end  of  the  fiscal  period 
what  money  he  requires. 

In  the  case  of  a  traveling  man  working  under  a  local 
manager  he  turns  over  his  expense  account  to  that  manager. 
His  chief  looks  it  over  and  approves  it.  Then  he  mails  it 
to  the  department  in  the  main  office. 


i6o 


SCIENTIFIC   SALES   MANAGEMENT 


One  page  taken  from  daily  expense  book.  Also  a  double  page  taken 
from  monthly  expense  book. 

If  the  traveling  man  has  no  local  chief  to  whom  he  reports, 
he  mails  it  direct  to  the  department.  For  this  purpose  he 
uses  a  special  heavy  envelope  which  is  sent  to  him  monthly 
by  the  department. 


SALESMAN'S   EXPENSE   ACCOUNTS  i6i 

1 

Form  SOS  A    4M    6  weeks    10  H  U    196086    pp4  | 

File  No._ Letter  of  Credit  No 

No.  of  Days . 

TRAVELING  EXPENSE  STATEMENT  OF 

Name 


Employed  as 

Headquarters 

Period  from To_ 


SPECIAL  INSTRUCTIONS. 

AU  choneys  drawn  on  Letters  of  Credit  must  be  accounted  for  promptly  the  last  day 
corered  by  samei  on  this  form  and  in  accordance  with  the  following  instructions: 

1,  In  chargine  items  in  this  statement  in  the  railroad  column  give  the  points  from  and  to  which 
you  travel. 

2.  Specify  in  column  headed  "Car  Fares  and  Livery"  lor  whicHi  service  the  money  was  spent. 
Itemire  same  day  by  day.  Livery  receipts  are  required  lor  charges  ol  ttial  nature.  Forms  for  this  pur- 
pose will  be  supplied  from  Chicago  on  application. 

.  3;  In  the  hotel  column,  give  the  name  of  the  town,  the  name  of  the  hotel  and  the  rate  per  diem. 
If  jou  are  stopping  on^the  European  plan,  you  must  specifiy  the  amount  paid  for  each  meal  and  lodging 
in  the  space  provided  for  same  on  statement  {Bkf..  Dm..  Sup..  Ldg.,  meaning  breakfast,  dinner,  supper 
nnd  lodging).  Laundry,  shaving,  boot-blacking,  cigars,  and  other  personal  items  o(  expense  are  not 
allowed.    No  trade  expcQSC  allowed. 

4.  When  in  that  city  which  we  have  designated  as  your  headquarters,  we  do  not  pay  your  living 
expense  whether  at  the  hotel  or  elsewhere. 

5.  Always  give  as  lull  an  explanation  as  possible  of  all  iteff 
where  bills  ofany  nature— not  being  strictly  traveling  expense 
receipted  btU  must  tnT&riablr  be  attached. 

6.  L'se  miieaee  ir»  all  cases  where  it  costs  the  same  or  less  than  Cash  fares,  providing  you  will 
travel  enough  on  one  issue  of  book  to  use  500  miles  or  more  in  a  year.  When  purchasing  mileage 
charge  same  in  the  railroad  column  at  lull  purchase  price;  the  same  as  for  any  other  expenditure  o( 
money:  tbowins  the  date  of  purchase,  form  and  number  of  mUease  book,  the  total  mile*  and  value, 
thus:  "Jan.  10.  NYC  mileage,  fann  F.No.  1 1123. 1000  mile*. $20.00."  Be  aure  and  give  in  the  column 
headed  "miles"  the  number  of  miles  used  from  point  to  point— for  example:  "  Chicago  to  Streator,  94 
mites:  Streator  to  La  Salle,  2(i  miles."  Report  must  be  made  in  mileaee  summary  of  the  number  of 
miles  used  out  of  each  book  during  the  period,  as  well  as  the  number  ofmiles  on  hand  in  each  book  at 
the  end  of  the  period.  This  information  is  very  important  for  our  records  at  this  end.  The  total 
miles  used  as  shown  from  point  to  point  must  agree  will)  the  total  miles  used  as  shown  in  the  mileage 
summary.  The  traveler  will  be  expected  to  see  that  the  mileage  balances  in  this  way  before  the  state- 
ment leaves  his  hands  or  explain  discrepancies.  Receipts  for  mileage  purchased  must  accompany 
expense  statements. 

7.  Mileage  Ticket  coTert  on  which  there  i«  a  rebate,  should  be  returnAd  to  the  L*ttars  of 
Oedit  Department,  Chicago,  for  collection,  by  registered  mail. 

8.  Telearapbing  for  remittances  will  be  at  your  own  expense.  Travelers  must  ndt  carry  un* 
necessarily  l^irge  amounts  ot  our  money  wiili  tht-m.  Draw  only  in  sufficient  amounts  to  cover  your 
immediate  wants. 

9.  We  are  not  to  be  put  to  anv  extra  expense  for  compartment  cars  for  night  travel,  or  chatr  can* 
(or  day  travel.    Pullman  receipts  required. 

10.  Branch  House  manager's  approval  required  on  statements  of  men  working  under  his  jurisdic- 
tion. The  manager  should  satisfy  himself  that  every  item  charged  by  the  salesman  is  correct  before  he 
approves  statements.  Before  the  Branch  House  cashier's  approval  is  placed  on  statement  he  must 
verify  the  salesman's  mileage  report  by  actual  examination  of^  mileage  books.  The  cashier  must  see 
that  all  footings  and  extensions  on  statements  turned  in  by  him  are  O.  K.  "Instructions  as  to  the  gen- 
eral form  and  make  up  of  expense  statements  to  new  Branch  House  salesmen  should  be  given  by 
Branch  House  officials.  ^ 

11.  Hat  the  end  of  the  period,  more  monev  has  been  spent  tl  an  dr.iwn.  draw  for  the  amount  to 
b.Tlance  the  account,  providing  the  Letter  of  Credit  will  allow  '^r  same.  Do  not  require  us  to  send 
small  checks  to  balance  out  statements. 

12.  In  remitting  unexpended  balances  don't  send  coin  or  currency.  Send  check,  New  York  draft 
or  postal  ordtT.     pra\v  checks  and  drafts  to   the   iirder  of  the   Company,  not  to  individuals.    Expens* 

uled  promptly  on  the  lait  day  of  tlie  period,  and  b«  accOBipanied  by  Letter 
ceipts  and  remittance  to  balance. 


Front  page  of  monthly  expense  statement  with  special  instructions. 


J 


i62  SCIENTIFIC   SALES   MANAGEMENT 

In  the  end,  all  of  the  expense  accounts  for  the  company 
reach  the  desk  of  the  expense  account  department  manager. 
Some  have  the  OK  of  the  local  manager  and  some  have  not. 
In  either  case  the  department  checks  up  very  carefully. 
The  manager  asks  questions  if  he  sees  fit.  He  investigates 
whatever  he  pleases. 

It  is  a  fact,  however,  that  very  few  or  no  questions  are 
required  of  a  man  who  is  honest  and  systematic.  It  is  true 
that  questions  will  be  asked  of  what  might  be  called  an 
"expense  account  piker."  Sooner  or  later  this  t}^e,  if  he 
is  doing  the  wrong  thing,  will  be  called  to  account. 

There  are  many  details  in  this  work  which  can  be  used 
where  they  seem  necessary.  For  instance,  it  is  often  a  good 
thing  to  make  men  use  mileage  books  and  give  an  account 
of  the  condition  of  these  books  each  month.  I  have  seen 
some  startling  cases  run  down  on  this  mileage  book  rule. 
It  is  strange,  but  some  men  are  weak  and  they  will  do 
peculiar  things.  The  sooner  you  find  out  this  t^pe  of  man 
the  better. 

The  traveling  men  are  pro\'ided  ■v\ith  a  small  pocket 
expense  book  in  which  they  can  keep  their  expenses  and 
from  which  they  are  copied  into  the  form  that  is  mailed  in 
at  the  end  of  the  period. 

,An  illustration  is  given  of  the  daily  book.  Also  the  front 
page  of  the  expense  statement  is  shown.  Note  the  special 
instructions  which  are  printed  on  it. 

I  know  that  the  department  described  above  has  saved 
vast  sums  of  money.  IMoreover,  it  has  cut  out  a  lot  of 
unnecessary  friction  and  hard  feelings.  When  it  was  first 
installed  it  created  a  little  disturbance,  but  as  soon  as 
everybody  knew  what  was  expected  there  was  little  trouble 
except  where  trouble  should  be  found. 


Standardizing  the  Salesman'* s 
Arguments  or  Sales   Talks 


Chapter  XIX 

Standardizing  the  Salesman*  s 
Arguments  or  Sales   Talks 

ONE  of  the  first  principles  of  Scientific  Management 
provides  scientific  methods  in  place  of  rule-of- 
thumb  methods  for  each  element,  of  the  workman's 
work.  You  have  read  that  before  instalhng  Scientific 
Management  in  different  industries,  the  motions  and  meth- 
ods of  the  workmen  have  been  studied.  It  is  well  illus- 
trated by  the  experiments  in  bricklaying. 

Scientific  Sales  Management  also  provides  for  a  careful 
study  of  the  salesman's  individual  efforts.  Beyond  any 
question,  in  every  sales  proposition  the  individual  work  of 
the  salesman  can  be  improved. 

Many  may  think  that  to  tell  a  salesman  always  to  answer 
an  objection  in  a  certain  way  will  make  a  wooden  man  of 
the  salesman.  There  are  few  really  great  sales  organizations 
in  America  which  have  not  standardized  the  salesman's 
individual  work.  They  have  told  him  how  to  handle  him- 
self when  he  is  alone  in  the  field.     • 

The  famous  Primer  of  the  National  Cash  Register  Com- 
pany was  based  on  the  motto:  "What  is  good  for  one  is 
good  for  all."  Why  should  we  be  content  to  let  every  sales- 
man think  out  his  own  talk  when  we  can  combine  the  wisdom 
of  all  with  the  best  ideas  of  the  management?  Why  shouldn't 
these  ideas  through  frequent  councils,  correspondence,  etc., 
be  boiled  down  into  the  one  best  way?     Why  shouldn't 


i66  SCIENTIFIC   SALES  MANAGEMENT 

the  sales  manager  or  somebody  employed  by  him  go  out 
witli  salesmen  and  observe  their  methods  of  working,  in 
exactly  the  same  way  as  the  man  installing  Scientific  Man- 
agement in  a  shop  watches  with  a  stop  watch  in  his  hand 
the  motions  of  the  workmen?  Finally,  why  shouldn't  the 
results  of  this  interchange  of  ideas,  of  observation,  be 
assembled  in  a  permanent  form  for  future  use? 

Surely  there  is  one  best  way  to  answer  every  question. 
The  problem  is  to  find  that  best  way. 

To  every  sales  proposition  there  are  certain  objections 
which  the  salesman  almost  invariably  hears.  For  instance, 
in  some  propositions  the  customer  answers  in  the  majority 
of  cases:  "I  cannot  afford  it."  There  are  probably  a 
hundred  ways  that  this  objection  might  be  answered.  But 
why  not  consider  these  hundred  ways  and  select  the  two  or 
three  best  ones  for  thcuse  of  present  and  future  salesmen? 
Why  not  hand  your  new  salesman  this  information  at  the 
beginning  of  his  work  and  insist  that  he  learn  these  things 
before  he  starts? 

Under  the  old  type  of  sales  management  the  beginner 
has  gone  out  into  the  field,  has  heard  the  objections  put  up 
to  him,  and  has  had  to  exercise  his  own  ingenuity  to  answer 
them.  Unfortunately  for  him  and  for  his  employer  the 
answers  which  he  has  given  have  not  been  the  best.  That 
is  probably  the  reason  why  for  a  long  while  he  has  been 
inefficient  as  a  salesman.  It  takes  him  a  long  time  to  think 
out  or  find  out  the  best  ways  to  meet  the  objections.  It 
takes  him  a  long  time  to  think  out  the  best  affirmative 
points  to  present  on  his  proposition. 

It  is  so  in  my  present  business.  I  find  that  at  least  three 
or  four  objections  are  made  at  ninety-nine  interviews  out 
of  one  hundred.'  Why  shouldn't  these  objections  be  con- 
sidered in  advance,  discussed  at  a  council  of  salesmen,  and 
the   ways   to   answer  them   considered?     Why  not  finally 


STANDARDIZING  SALES  ARGUMENTS      167 

select  the  best  answers  and  keep  these  in  permanent  form 
for  the  use  of  the  entire  force?  Many  successful  sales 
managers  and  salesmen  will  scoff  at  such  an  idea.  Yet 
the  history  and  experience  of  the  really  successful  big  sales 
propositions  of  America  prove  that  this  method  produces 
the  biggest  results. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  articles  on  securing  sales 
efhciency  appeared  in  Printer^ s  Ink  inigii.  Mr.  E.  D. 
Gibbs  contributed  a  series  of  articles  entitled:  "How  N. 
C.  R.  Gets  One  Hundred  Per  Cent  Efficiency  Out  of  Its 
Men."  These  articles  are  based  on  the  actual  experience 
which  Mr.  Gibbs  had  when  he  was  the  trainer  of  salesmen 
for  the  National  Cash  Register  Company. 

There  are  three  things  which  the  National  Cash  Register 
Company  has  instituted  in  connection  with  their  sales 
department  which  have  been  wonderfully  successful.  They 
are  the  Primer,  the  Training  Schools  for  Salesmen,  and  the 
Manual  which  they  now  use. 

In  another  chapter  the  value  of  councils  and  meetings 
has  been  mentioned.  Personally,  I  feel  that  nothing  has 
been  more  responsible  for  the  success  of  my  own  sales  work 
than  these  meetings.  One  reason  is  because  they  have 
produced  a  certain  standardization  of  the  salesman's  indi- 
vidual methods.  So  Mr.  Gibbs  describes  the  meetings  which 
Mr.  Patterson  and  himself  held  in  1892  with  various  groups 
of  salesmen.  He  states  that  in  the  Spring  of  1893  he  and 
Mr.  Patterson  visited  fifty  towns  in  fifty-one  days,  holding 
a  meeting  in  each  town.  These  meetings  secured  results 
and  also  revealed  to  Mr.  Patterson  many  interesting  things 
as  to  the  efl&ciency  or  rather  the  lack  of  efficiency  in  the 
sales  force. 

This  company  started  its  schools  for  training  salesmen 
about  the  time  of  the  World's  Fair  at  Chicago.  They  had 
a  number  of  exhibits  at  the  Fair.    The  President  used  to 


i68  SCIENTIFIC   SALES   MANAGEMENT 

stand  around  and  listen  to  the  explanation  of  the  Register 
as  made  by  the  different  attendants.  He  was  clearly  dis- 
satisfied with  the  way  this  was  done.  There  was  no  system 
in  the  way  the  men  worked.  No  two  of  them  said  the  same 
thing. 

Accordingly  Mr.  Patterson  formed  a  little  night  school 
at  Chicago.  At  this  school  the  men  were  instructed  as  to 
how  to  demonstrate  the  Register.  A  little  book  or  Primer 
was  printed,  and  the  men  were  compelled  to  learn  its 
contents. 

The  results  of  this  early  work  in  training  schools  were 
remarkable.  The  exhibits  were  crowded  and  the  men 
described  the  machines  in  an  interesting  way.  Before,  the 
talk  of  the  demonstrator  had  been  left  to  chance.  As  he 
told  the  same  story  from  day  to  day,  he  was  very  apt  to 
omit  many  of  the  essential  things.  After  the  school  was 
organized  and  the  Primer  was  printed,  nothing  was  omitted 
from  the  arguments.  The  demonstrators  were  obliged  to 
cover  the  ground. 

Since  then  there  has  been  much  said  and  heard  of  this 
training  school  of  the  National  Cash  Register  Company. 
In  nearly  every  city  of  the  United  States  you  wiU  find  an 
efficient  representative  of  that  company  who  has  attended 
a  six  weeks  course  at  one  of  their  schools.  Any  sales 
manager  who  is  interested  would  do  well  to  look  up  such  a 
man  and  have  a  talk  with  him  as  to  the  training  which  he 
has  had  in  connection  with  these  schools. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  they  started  their  now  famous 
Primer.  The  reason  for  the  Primer  was  the  desire  to 
collect  the  ideas  of  all  the  different  salesmen  so  that  the 
indi\adual  salesman  might  have  the  benefit  of  the  thoughts 
of  many.  These  arguments  were  collected,  boiled  down, 
and  put  into  Primer  form. 

It  was  not  easy  at  first  to  make  the  men  memorize  or 


STANDARDIZING   SALES   ARGUMENTS      169 

learn  the  contents  of  this  Primer.  At  the  beginning  a  re- 
quest was  issued  that  the  men  memorize  the  contents. 
Later  investigation  revealed  the  fact  that  very  few  had  done 
so.  Then  instructions  were  issued.  At  the  end  it  took 
quite  a  number  of  orders,  followed  by  examinations,  before 
the  result  was  secured. 

Nevertheless,  Mr.  Gibbs  makes  the  statement  without 
any  hesitation  that  no  single  thing  of  which  he  knows 
helped  the  sales  of  these  Registers  more  than  the  learning 
of  that  Primer. 

Later,  instead  of  the  Primer,  the  Company's  Manual,  as 
they  now  use  it,  was  pubhshed.  This  was  virtually  a  com- 
plete book  of  instructions  for  the  Cash  Register  salesmen. 
It  has  been  printed  in  numerous  editions  and  in  various  sizes. 
Every  bit  of  information  which  could  be  required  by  a  man 
who  desired  to  sell  Cash  Registers  is  to  be  found  in  it. 

The  book  is  divided  into  four  parts;  namely:  Salesman- 
ship, Approach,  Demonstration,  and  Closing  Arguments. 
I  do  not  know  whether  it  is  possible  to  secure  a  copy  of  this 
Manual,  but  a  sales  manager  might  study  it  with  profit. 

Objections  like  the  following  appear  in  the  Manual: 
"I  do  not  need  one  in  my  business." 
"I  cannot  spare  the  money." 
"My  present  system  is  satisfactory." 
"It  is  not  suited  to  my  business." 

Think  of  the  difference  between  sending  a  salesman  out 
to  answer  these  objections  as  best  he  can  and  giving  him  a 
good  solid  six  to  ten  weeks  training  in  learning  how  to 
answer  such  objections. 

I  wish  there  were  room  here  to  give  some  of  the  answers 
to  the  objections.  There  are  many  good  practical  sug- 
gestions on  telling  the  salesman  how  to  act  under  certain 
conditions.  He  is  told  how  to  handle  the  prospect;  he  is 
given  a  lot  of  excellent  ideas  on  salesmanship  in  general. 


I70  SCIENTIFIC  SALES  MANAGEMENT 

A  very  interesting  page  is  one  containing  fifty  Don'ts. 
If  any  sales  manager  doubts  the  thoroughness  with 
which  these  men  have  been  trained,  if  he  doubts  whether 
or  not  these  men  beheve  in  and  practise  the  principles 
laid  down  in  the  Manual,  let  him  try  to  buy  a  Cash  Register 
at  one  of  their  offices.  Let  him  have  a  machine  demon- 
strated to  him  and  see  how  the  salesman  handles  himself. 

Another  very  interesting  book  of  the  same  sort  has  been 
issued  by  the  International  Correspondence  School  of 
Scranton,  Pa.  The  name  of  their  book  is:  "Common 
Objections  and  Questions  Answered."  This  really  wonder- 
ful organization  at  Scranton  has  standardized  its  salesmen's 
methods  to  a  remarkable  degree.  There  are  many  people 
who  probably  do  not  realize  the  enormous  business  which 
this  concern  does.  They  are  rapidly  coming  to  a  point,  if 
they  have  not  already  arrived  there,  where  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  they  have  more  influence  on  the  educational  problems 
of  the  country  than  any  one  institution. 

This  book  tells  the  canvasser  what  he  should  say  in  answer 
to  objections.  It  also  gives  many  affirmative  points.  The 
salesman  is  obliged  to  learn  these  things  and  to  pass  an 
examination  before  he  is  allowed  to  soHcit  business. 

Perhaps  one  of  the  points  where  salesmen  fall  down  the 
most  is  at  the  closing,  and  it  is  interesting  to  see  in  this 
book  the  numerous  answers  to  certain  excuses.  Some  of 
the  excuses  listed  with  answers  are: 

"Hasn't  time." 

"Can't  afford  it." 

"Will  see." 

"Too  warm  to  study." 

"Too  old." 

"Has  been  out  of  school  too  long." 

"Too  young." 

"Knows  some  unsuccessful  student,"  etc.,  etc. 


STANDARDIZING  SALES  ARGUMENTS      171 

All  large  concerns  should  have  a  book  or  manual  on  this 
principle.  Some  lines  of  business  do  not  require  specific 
instructions  for  salesmen  —  others  do.  I  do  not  think  that 
there  is  any  business  employing  salesmen,  the  results  of 
which  could  not  be  improved  by  having  some  sort  of  a  book 
or  manual  of  instructions.  Of  course  a  small  concern 
need  not  have  a  printed  book,  but  the  matter  should  be  put 
into  some  permanent  form,  possibly  on  typewritten  sheets. 
The  best  thought  of  all  the  salesmen  and  of  the  management 
should  be  collected  and  recorded  for  the  use  of  present  and 
future  men. 

The  recent  great  campaign  of  Proctor  &  Gamble,  who 
introduced  and  sold  Crisco  through  grocers,  gives  an  example 
of  standardized  methods  of  selling.  There  are  many  differ- 
ent sorts  of  salesmen's  work  in  this  proposition.  I  will 
explain  only  the  work  of  the  demonstrators  who  called 
from  house  to  house.  There  was  an  exceedingly  well  con- 
ceived and  successful  sales  plan  beneath  the  use  of  these 
house  to  house  demonstrators  which  need  not  be  explained 
here. 

It  was  necessary  for  a  salesman  to  show  Crisco  to  the 
housekeeper.  The  men  employed  were  all  a  certain  type. 
No  booksellers,  broken  down  canvassers,  or  failures  were 
taken  on.  Such  places  as  local  Y.  M.  C.  A.'s,  etc.,  were 
searched  for  young  men  who  had  never  done  any  canvassing. 
These  young  men  were  obliged  to  be  clean-shaven  and  to 
wear  clean  linen.  They  were  carefully  coached  in  their 
talk  beforehand  by  the  field  superintendent. 

The  canvasser  knocked  at  the  door  of  the  house.  When 
the  door  was  opened,  the  canvasser  immediately  removed 
his  hat,  placing  it  on  the  floor  of  the  piazza  or  on  the  rail 
if  one  were  handy.  Using  a  set  phrase  such  as:  "Madam, 
I  am  here  to  show  you  Crisco,  the  new  shortening,"  he 
offered  her  with  his  two  hands  a  pail  of  Crisco.     At  the 


172  SCIENTIFIC   SALES  MANAGEMENT 

same  instant  he  tore  from  the  pail  the  parchment  paper 
wrapper  which  enclosed  it,  removed  the  cover,  and  handed 
it  to  her  exposed.  There  is  a  delicate  little  touch  in  this 
of  apparently  spoiling  a  package  to  show  it  to  the  prospect. 
I  might  say  that  these  pails  were  being  rewrapped  in  parch- 
ment as  needed,  outside  in  the  foreman's  wagon. 

The  instant  that  the  woman  took  the  pail  from  the 
canvasser's  hands  he  drew  a  pencil  from  one  pocket  and 
held  it  in  his  right  hand.  At  the  same  time,  he  drew  from 
another  pocket  a  coupon  which  he  held  in  his  left  hand. 
This  was  done  so  that  the  woman  could  not  hand  back  the 
pail  to  the  canvasser.  The  most  she  could  do  was  to  drop 
or  place  it  on  the  floor.  Then  the  conversation  started. 
There  are  a  lot  of  interesting  reasons  why  the  dialogue 
that  followed  was  used. 

It  is  a  fact  that  the  Crisco  people  were  able  as  a  result 
of  the  experiments  which  they  made  and  of  the  standardizing 
of  their  talk  to  compute  with  almost  absolute  accuracy 
beforehand  the  results  of  canvassers'  calls.  It  would  be  a 
breach  of  confidence  for  me  to  give  here  these  statistics, 
but  to  an  almost  accurate  degree  they  have  figured  and 
substantiated  it  by  results  the  percentage  of  people  that 
would  be  out  between  the  hours  of  eight  and  five,  the  number 
called  upon  per  hundred  who  would  buy  an  article  costing 
25  cents,  35  cents,  50  cents,  etc.  In  this  way  they  know 
beforehand  just  what  amount  of  goods  may  be  placed  in  a 
town  by  these  canvassers. 

Another  large  concern  recently  introduced  a  preparation 
that  has  to  do  -^-ith  the  softening  of  water.  They  sent  their 
salesmen  into  a  city  to  sell  these  goods  to  the  grocer.  These 
salesmen  were  very  carefully  instructed  as  to  how  to  sell 
the  water  softener.  The  idea  was  to  have  the  grocer  respond 
to  any  inquiry  for  a  water  softener  by  naming  their  particu- 
lar product.     About  a  month  after  this  work  had  been  done 


STANDARDIZING   SALES   ARGUMENTS      173 

in  a  city  of  125,000,  the  advertising  manager  and  two  others 
went  to  that  city  and  made  inquiries  of  about  fifty  grocers, 
asking  the  same  question  of  each  grocer.  The  way  the 
grocer  was  approached  was  with  a  question  about  Hke  this: 
"What  can  I  buy  to  soften  water?"  The  figures  showed 
that  out  of  fifty  grocers  called  upon,  all  but  six  gave  the 
name  of  this  new  softener.  Then  the  advertising  manager 
felt  that  his  work  was  being  done  as  he  wanted  it  and  he 
felt  justified  in  beginning  to  advertise  the  product  in  that 
city,  knowing  that  if  the  grocers  had  inquiries  they  would 
answer  in  the  proper  way.  This  no  doubt  was  due  to  the 
way  in  wliich  the  manufacturer's  salesmen  talked  to  the 
grocer. 

The  sales  manager  can  see  that  there  is  a  tremendous 
room  for  him  in  this  fine  of  work.  He  can  improve  the 
efficiency  of  his  sales  force  most  wonderfvilly  by  proper 
work  along  these  lines.  Test  it  out,  Mr.  Sales  Manager, 
in  a  small  way.  For  instance,  find  out  from  all  your  sales- 
men what  is  the  real  reason,  as  they  will  give  it  to  you,  why 
a  man  does  not  really  buy  some  particular  article  from 
them.  Suppose  you  are  selling  an  ofi&ce  device,  ask  each  of 
your  men  what  in  his  opinion  is  the  real  reason  why  he  fails 
to  secure  an  order  every  time. 

The  reasons  given  may  be  that  the  customer  cannot 
afford  it,  or  thinks  he  cannot  afford  it,  or  that  he  has  no  use 
for  the  article,  etc.,  etc.  Take  up  any  one  of  these  objec- 
tions, particularly  the  thing  which  the  majority  of  the  men 
say  is  the  real  reason  for  not  closing  a  sale.  Ask  for  the 
arguments  as  given  by  all  the  salesmen  to  meet  this  objec- 
tion. Then  assemble  these  and  select  the  best  answers. 
Now  insist  that  every  salesman  use  this  best  answer  for  this 
objection.  Then  go  through  all  other  points  of  objections 
until  you  have  good  arguments  to  answer  them. 

Study  the  points  in  favor  of  the  macliine.     Observe  the 


174         SCIENTIFIC  SALES  MANAGEMENT 

methods  employed  in  selling  by  your  salesmen.  Invite 
suggestions  from  them.  Ask  them  for  any  particular  happy 
phrase  or  ways  of  putting  up  the  story  which  they  have 
noticed  has  been  effective.  As  a  salesman,  I  have  often 
stumbled  on  to  something  which  apparently  took  very 
well  with  the  trade  and  then  have  used  it  for  a  long  time. 
Try  to  locate  these  things  and  assemble  them. 

Having  assembled  all  these  different  things,  put  them  in 
permanent  form  and  pass  them  along  to  your  entire  force. 
Go  further  than  that.  If  you  are  satisfied  that  they  are 
good,  insist  that  the  men  learn  them  and  use  them.  Make 
them  pass  examinations,  if  necessary,  on  such  points. 

Many  manufacturers  say  that  if  they  could  control  the 
talk  which  the  retail  clerks  employ  when  selling  their  goods, 
they  would  largely  increase  their  sales.  At  nearly  every 
conference  of  salesmen  that  I  have  attended,  some  salesman 
states  that  if  we  could  secure  the  intelligent  co-operation 
of  the  retail  clerks  the  results  would  be  much  better.  So 
the  question  of  the  manufacturer  who  sells  goods  through 
retail  clerks  often  is:  "How  shall  I  educate  the  clerk  behind 
the  counter  to  sell  my  goods?" 

One  little  plan  which  I  have  employed  and  which  admits 
of  great  expansion  is  this:  Advertise  to  the  retail  trade  in 
various  ways,  probably  by  mail  pieces  and  through  a 
house  organ,  or  in  any  other  way  that  suggests  itself,  that 
you  will  give  a  series  of  prizes  to  the  retail  clerk  who  writes 
the  best  five  hundred  word  story  on  how  to  sell  your 
goods. 

It  does  not  make  much  difference  what  you  manufacture, 
provided  it  is  something  to  be  sold  by  the  retailer.  You 
may  be  the  manufacturer  of  a  corset  or  of  a  prepared  dessert. 
Reach  the  clerk  through  the  mail  pieces  to  the  retail  firm 
and  in  other  ways.  Tell  him  that  you  will  give  a  series  of 
prizes  to  the  person  employed  in  his  store  where  your  goods 


STANDARDIZING   SALES   ARGUMENTS      175 

are  sold  who  writes  the  best  story,  telling  how  he  sells  your 
goods  or  would  sell  your  goods  if  he  had  a  chance. 

Announce  that  the  best  ten  stories  will  be  published  and 
that  you  will  give  ten  prizes  for  these  ten  stories.  State 
that  the  announcement  of  the  prizes  and  copies  of  the  win- 
ning stories  will  be  mailed  to  every  contestant  or  to  any 
other  clerk  who  will  ask  for  it.  Lay  a  good  deal  of  stress  on 
the  value  of  this  booklet,  telling  how  many  interesting  things 
it  will  have  in  it,  so  that  you  will  have  many  inquiries  for 
the  booklet.  Now  when  the  answers  are  all  in  and  the 
prize  winners  have  been  selected,  put  your  ten  stories  in 
booklet  form.  Of  course,  these  stories  themselves  will  be 
excellent  arguments  which  other  clerks  can  use.  In  addition 
to  that  you  should  have  a  number  of  pages  giving  ideas  on 
selling  your  goods,  hints  for  displaying  them,  suggestions 
for  price  tickets,  etc.,  etc. 

You  can  see  that  you  have  not  only  secured  from  retail 
clerks  many  ideas,  but  you  have  had  a  chance  to  distribute 
to  these  clerks  your  best  ideas  as  to  how  to  talk  up  your 
goods. 

To  make  this  thing  a  success,  the  manufacturer  ought 
to  advertise  the  contest  quite  liberally.  You  must  spend 
time  and  money  making  the  contest  well  known. 

There  is  no  reason  at  all  why  the  sales  talk  and  the  indi- 
vidual methods  of  salesmen  in  retail  stores  should  not  be 
standardized  by  the  proprietor.  Surely  there  is  an  atmos- 
sphere  about  the  big  successful  retail  stores  which  is  due  to 
some  personal  force  behind  it.  The  clerks  of  the  United 
Cigar  Stores  do  not  forget  to  say  "Thank  you."  The 
reason  for  this  is  that  they  have  been  trained  to  say  it  and 
are  made  to  say  it.  One  day  the  president  of  the  United 
Cigar  Stores  sent  a  telegraph  message  to  every  clerk  em- 
ployed in  the  stores  which  read:  "Did  you  forget  to  say 
'Thank  you  '  today?"     It  isn't  only  the  saying  of  "Thank 


176  SCIENTIFIC  SALES  MANAGEMENT 

you"  that  has  made  the  United  Cigar  Stores  a  success,  but 
it  is  carrying  out  all  the  other  details  to  the  same  degree 
of  efficiency.  Any  proprietor,  whether  he  owns  one  store 
or  one  hundred,  can  educate  his  salesmen  to  do  their  work 
in  the  one  best  way. 


'The   Comparative  Feature  in 
Sales  Management 


chapter  XX 

The   Comparative  Feature  in 
Sales  Management 

THE  use  of  the  comparative  feature  in  sales  manage- 
ment is  a  great  thing.  Its  value  must  not  be  over- 
looked. Comparisons  should  be  secured  in  every 
possible  sort  of  way  and  for  various  periods. 

The  satisfaction  of  accomplishing  the  Set  Task  as  shown 
in  Scientific  Management  is  secured  in  a  similar  way  by 
comparison.  Comparisons  are  a  great  spur  to  increase 
efficiency. 

It  is  very  important  for  successful  sales  management 
that  the  records  be  kept  thoroughly  up  to  date.  A  proper 
system  of  sales  records  should  be  right  up  to  the  minute. 
Post  mortems  do  not  amount  to  much  if  they  are  held  a 
long  time  after  the  occurrence.  Obituaries  deal  only  with 
dead  ones,  and  the  sales  manager  should  not  read  obitu- 
aries. He  should  have  a  thoroughly  live  record  of  sales 
kept  ready  by  clerks  for  daily  reference.  When  the  clocks 
strike  the  closing  hour  of  any  definite  period,  then  at  that 
moment  the  sales  manager  should  know  what  has  been 
accomplished.  Many  of  the  failures  in  all  kinds  of  com- 
mercial enterprises  would  have  been  avoided  if  the  records 
had  been  up  to  date. 

If  you  are  thoroughly  in  earnest  about  being  a  successful 
sales  manager  and  in  following  the  principles  of  Scientific 
Sales  Management,  be  sure  your  records  are  kept  not  only 
complete,  but  that  they  are  ready  on  time. 


iSo         SCIENTIFIC  SALES  MANAGEMENT 

There  are  six  foundries  doing  business  in  the  eastern  part 
of  the  country  which  have  uniform  accounting  methods. 
The  results  of  these  different  plants  are  compared  in  numer- 
ous ways  every  month.  There  is  a  stimulation  afforded  by 
these  comparisons. 

A  certain  group  of  department  stores,  each  doing  business 
in  a  different  city  and  not  competitive,  have  found  such 
good  results  from  uniform  accounting  methods  and  the 
information  which  comes  from  comparisons  that  they  jointly 
employ  an  accountant  who  collects  the  monthly  reports  in 
details  from  these  stores.  He  makes  comparisons  by  items 
and  supplies  the  management  of  each  store  with  the  data. 

For  instance,  one  manager  finds  that  Department  A  in 
his  store  did  $50,000  worth  of  business  in  the  preceding 
month,  has  $35,000  worth  of  stock  on  hand,  and  is  shown 
in  detail  what  the  labor  and  other  expense  items  of  that 
store  were.  He  sees  that  another  store  did  $55,000  worth  of 
business  in  Department  A  and  had  a  stock  of  but  $10,000. 

Such  records  help  the  sales  manager.  They  brace  him 
up.  It's  the  competition  which  he  needs.  He  is  playing 
the  game.  He  knows  how  much  he  must  do  to  win.  Then 
he  passes  statistics  of  interest  to  his  men  and  they  are 
helped.     They  are  in  a  game. 

And  the  more  complete  and  minute  you  make  these  sales 
records,  the  more  interesting  will  be  the  game.  Don't 
accept  aggregate  figures;  that  is,  simply  totals  of  sales.  If 
you  sell  only  three  things,  know  the  sales  in  a  comparative 
w^ay  for  each  one.  If  5'ou  have  fifty  sales  departments, 
know  the  totals  of  each. 

Don't  stop  with  sales.  Know  the  comparative  results  of 
discounts  allowed  for  various  causes.  Know  traveUng  ex- 
penses for  every  man  in  a  comparative  way.  Know  each 
man's  cost-to-sell  and  see  it  compared  with  that  of  the  other 
men  and  compared  with  his  ow^n  of  a  year  ago. 


USE   OF   COMPARISONS  i8i 

Know,  know,  insist  on  accurate  information.  Cut  out 
guesswork.  Soon  you  will  have  your  men  keenly  interested, 
striving  intelligently,  moving  and  arriving.  Play  the  game 
intelligently.     It  pays. 

It's  the  knowledge  of  what  can  be  done  and  is  being  done 
which  stimulates  men  to  do  what  they  might  otherwise 
consider  impossible. 

I  beUeve  in  dividing  the  year  into  uniform  periods.  Com- 
parisons year  by  year,  if  compiled  by  calendar  months,  are 
of  little  value.  This  is  because  of  the  variance.  Some 
months  have  an  extra  pay  day,  which  destroys  the  value  of 
figures  for  comparison  to  sell,  etc.  True  this  can  be  adjusted, 
but  the  practise  of  the  firms  who  are  doing  big  things  in 
selling  is  to  divide  the  year  into  fiscal  periods. 

One  concern  divides  the  year  into  twelve  periods,  of 
which  the  first  and  seventh  periods  have  six  weeks  each  and 
the  other  ten  have  four  weeks  each. 

Another  concern  uses  thirteen  periods  of  four  weeks  each. 

By  this  method  you  can  run  valuable  sales  comparisons. 

Do  not  be  satisfied  with  period  showings.     Each  week  have 

your  reports  show  comparisons  with  the  same  week  of  one 

year  and  two  years  before. 

In  compiUng  comparative  figures,  it  is  well  not  to  be 
governed  too  much  by  figures  which  show  only  money 
value.  It  is  well  to  show  tonnage  or  units  also.  If  you  are 
selling  cases  of  canned  goods,  show  the  number  of  cases  for 
the  periods  which  you  are  comparing.  If  you  are  selling 
cloth,  show  the  number  of  yards  for  the  period.  If  you 
are  selling  coal,  show  the  number  of  tons  sold.  In  addition, 
of  course,  you  would  show  the  total  value  in  money.  Fluc- 
tuations in  the  market  will  injure  the  value  of  your  com- 
parisons if  you  depend  entirely  on  money  figures. 

The  illustration  shows  a  comparative  report  for  one 
week  covering  about  twenty-five  different  departments. 


lS2 


SCIENTIFIC   SALES   MANAGEMENT 


COMPARATIVE  STATEMENT 

nnn' K  H""*' "'      l^Turtn,    Ohin.        ,      .,        _.      W«-te  ivrinil  »n.1,n«  SBnt.BmhBr   afif.h 

1«_2 

II         "" 

-rt^s   VEIAH                                         1 

"""^  1       * 

U~T 

"•"^              wE«mr           1 

^-lourt         1 

72 
5 

49 

* 

142 
136 
945 

S 

582 

12 

541 

43 

92 

65 

67 
7 

L56 

46 
6 

130 
390 
39G 

3 

865 
37 

720 

35 
05 
44 

5 

12 

540 

698 
fl09 

}■ 

45 
74 
473 

90 
08 
03 

11 

1 
10 

210 
545 
229 

; 

lUb 

92 

B78 

90 
65 
62 

272 

603 

19 
64 

04 
27 

87 
907 

9 
81 

78 
63 

1 
7 
B 

885 
229 
448 

161 
578 
337 

42 
32 
92 

2 

e 

421 
957 
576 

217 
660 
25 

89 
91 
92 

12 

000 

960 

00 

15 

000 

1 

iOO 

00 

600 

72 

00 

900 
2 

108 

GO 
16 

7 

135 

606 
354 

2 

10 
36 
209 

80 
36 
20 

1 

24 
360 

f44 

95 
59 

40 
20 
84 

37 

10 

6 

29 
75 

39 
19 

6 

1 

29 
04 

2 

240 
743 

14 

301 

40 
73 

1 

48 
739 

3 
226 

84 
07 

4 

358 
695 

620 
62 

12 
47 

2 

527 
535 

2 

379 

590 

05 
96 

16 

80 

24 

1 

20 

8 

756 
400 

46 
168 

36 

00 

^ 

633 

645 

97 
12 

98 
90 

8 

35 

12 

54 

124 

863 

11 

386 

60 

235 

899 

11 

882 

60 

TONNAGE 

MONEY 
I49&.C0 

IlOUU _— 

WEEKLY  COMPARATI\'E  STATEMENT  WITH  NAMES  OF  PRODUCTS 
OMITTED 

Then  at  the  end  of  each  period  show  the  same  thing  for 
the  period  of  the  current  year  and  the  preceding  years.  It 
is  not  difficult  to  secure  this.  It  means,  chiefly,  setting  out 
to  do  it  —  starting.  In  a  few  years  you  will  have  statistics 
of  great  value. 


A  Campaign   Featuring  the 
Manager  or  Salesman 


chapter  XXI 

A  Campaign  Featuring  the 
Manager  or  Salesman 

SOMETIMES,  in  co-operative  mail  work,  it  is  well  to 
feature  the  manager  or  salesman.  Salesmen,  of 
course,  do  this  themselves,  but  bigger  and  quicker 
results  can  be  obtained  if  it  is  handled  for  them  by  the 
management. 

Secure  a  Hst  of  each  salesman's  possible  customers.  To 
these  names  send  letters  signed  with  the  salesman's  name, 
telling  about  the  product,  its  merit,  etc.  State  that  the 
writer  desires  to  make  a  good  showing  on  sales.  Ask  the 
customer  if  he  is  wiUing  to  give  him  an  order,  etc.  If  it 
seems  best,  3'ou  can  have  the  stationery  printed  with  the 
salesman's  name  on  it.  Use  the  personal  pronoun  just  as 
though  the  salesman  were  writing  the  letter. 

I  have  used  this  with  great  effect.  It  has  pleased  the 
salesman  and  brought  surprising  results  from  the  trade. 

Once  I  desired  to  increase  the  business  of  a  certain  product 
which  was  one  of  a  line  of  a  hundred  other  tilings.  To  sell 
the  product  in  the  form  which  we  desired,  a  merchant  had 
to  own  a  certain  machine  for  dispensing  it.  About  one  in 
ten  had  these  machines,  the  others  selling  the  product  in  a 
different  form.  We  were  not  securing  the  business  from 
these  machine  owners.  About  ninety  per  cent  of  their 
business  went  to  one  firm  who  specialized  on  this  product. 
I  decided  to  go  after  this  business,  using  for  distribution 
twelve  different  branch  houses  covering  the  territory. 


iS6  SCIENTIFIC   SALES   MANAGEMENT 

Accordin<;ly  I  sent  a  bullelin  to  each  salesman,  giving  him 
two  weeks  in  wliich  to  collect  the  names  of  the  merchants 
on  his  territory  who  owned  the  machines.  He  didn't  have 
to  ask.  All  he  had  to  do  was  to  look  when  he  called  on  a 
merchant.  In  two  weeks  I  had  a  list  of  about  two  thousand 
names.  This  then  w^as  my  field.  I  had  all  the  possibilities 
and  it  w-as  up  to  me  to  secure  the  business. 

I  asked  every  manager  to  send  me  a  supply  of  his  branch 
house  letter  paper.  Si.x  mail  pieces  were  prepared.  Four 
were  printed  folders  carrying  reply  postals.  Two  were 
letters  with  the  salutation  matched  in  and  signed  with  the 
signature  of  the  local  manager.  These  letters  were  written 
in  the  first  person.  Room  was  provided  at  the  bottom 
for  the  merchant  to  write  an  order.  The  first  letter  had 
such  phrases   as   "I   am  sending  you   this  personal  letter 

because  it  is  up   to   me  to  increase    the business    at 

my  branch  house." 

In  the  second  letter  was  this  paragraph:  "I  am  sending 
you  this  personal  letter,  asldng  you  to  favor  me,  if  you 
possibly  can.     We  are  trying  to  break  the  record  at  our 

branch  house  on sales  during  these  two  weeks.    All  the 

managers  in  this  vicinity  are  doing  the  same  thing.  Nat- 
urally I  am  anxious  to  have  my  house  show  up  well,  because 
these  sales  are  to  be  tabulated  and  sent  to  headquarters." 

Full  details  of  this  plan  were  sent  to  each  salesman,  and 
at  the  same  time  that  the  advertising  was  going  out,  the 
salesmen  were  \'igorously  soliciting  business.  Weekly  com- 
parative bulletins  were  mailed  to  them. 

Did  we  secure  a  response?  We  secured  a  big  one.  I 
heard  of  scores  of  instances  of  tangible  results  from  these 
personal  letters.  One  manager  said  that  a  customer  who 
bought  other  products,  but  not  this  particular  thing,  tele- 
phoned the  morning  after  the  letter  was  mailed,  saying  that 
he  had  received  the  letter  and  that  he  was  very  glad  to  give 


FEATURING  187 

the  manager  the  business.  This  man  telephoned  from  a 
suburb  into  town  just  to  give  him  that  message  and  not  to 
order  anything  else. 

You  might  ask  why  I  didn't  make  this  manager  solicit 
the  business  in  the  first  place.  There  were  so  many  other 
more  important  things  to  do  that  the  manager  hadn't  done 
it.  The  tonnage  on  this  particular  product  was  small,  and 
while  it  might  have  been  his  intention  to  ask  every  one  of 
his  customers  to  buy,  he  wasn't  doing  it.  My  letters  in- 
sured everyone  being  asked  to  buy.  It  did  the  missionary 
work  for  the  manager. 

The  competitor  mentioned  above  was  so  sore  that  he 
wrote  to  our  headquarters  saying  that  I  was  unfair.  He 
said  that  I  had  gone  out  of  my  way  asking  for  business  in 
this  line  and  had  selected  only  his  customers  for  my  work. 
He  overlooked  the  fact  that  I  had  selected  all  the  possi- 
bilities;  namely,  the  owners  of  machines. 

Of  course,  there  are  dangers  in  featuring  the  salesmen 
too  much.  I  do  not  believe  that  it  is  a  good  plan  to  have 
orders  mailed  regularly  to  individual  salesmen.  I  don't 
believe  it  is  a  good  plan  for  salesmen  to  encourage  the  trade 
in  always  sending  orders  direct  to  them. 

Elbert  Hubbard  in  a  recent  article  on  co-operation  says: 

In  an  enterprise  that  amounts  to  anything,  all  transactions  should  be 
in  the  name  of  the  firm,  because  the  firm  is  more  than  any  person  con- 
nected with  it.  Clerks  or  salesmen  who  have  private  letter  heads  and 
ask  customers  to  send  letters  to  them  personally  are  on  the  wrong  track. 

To  lose  your  identity  in  the  business  is  one  of  the  penalties  of  working 
for  a  great  institution.  Don't  protest  —  it  is  no  new  thing — -all  big 
concerns  are  confronted  by  the  same  situations.  Get  in  line;  it  is  a 
necessity. 

If  you  want  to  do  business  individually  and  in  your  own  name,  stay 
in  the  country  or  do  business  for  yourself.  Peanut  stands  are  individ- 
ualistic. When  the  peanut  man  goes  the  stand  also  croaks.  Successful 
corporations  are  something  else. 


iSS         SCIENTIFIC  S.\LES  MANAGEMENT 

Of  course,  the  excuse  is,  if  you  send  me  the  order  direct,  I,  knowing 
you  and  your  needs,  can  take  much  better  care  of  your  wants  than  that 
disputed  and  intangible  thing  "the  house."  Besides,  sending  it  through 
the  circumlocution  olVice  takes  time. 

There  is  something  more  to  say.  First,  long  experience  has  shown 
that  the  "saving  of  time"  is  exceedingly  problematical.  For,  while  in 
some  instances  a  rush  order  can  be  gotten  ofif  the  same  night  by  sending 
it  to  an  individual,  yet  when  your  individual  has  gone  fishing,  is  at  the 
ball  game,  or  is  sick,  or  else  has  given  up  his  job  and  gone  with  the  oppo- 
sition house,  there  are  great  and  vexatious  delays,  dire  confusions,  and 
a  great  strain  of  vocabularies. 

Notwithstanding  these  facts,  I  am  of  the  opinion  that 
the  personal  element  can  be  often  introduced  with  profit. 
At  any  rate,  it  is  worth  trying. 


Applying  Scientific  Sales  Man- 
agement to  a  Retail  Business 


Chapter  XXII 

Applying   Scientific   Sales    Man- 
agement to  a  Retail  Business 

MOST  of  the  ideas  in  this  book  have  dealt  with  the 
business  of  the  manufacturer  and  jobber.  Never- 
theless, the  principles  may  be  as  easily  and  com- 
paratively as  profitably  applied  to  a  retail  business. 

Under  the  old  method  of  employing  salesmen  for  a  grocery, 
laundry,  or  bakery,  a  young  man  is  employed  as  a  soHcitor 
and  is  told  or  expected  to  secure  customers.  He  has  what 
is  generally  known  as  his  route. 

My  observation  of  this  method  is  that  his  work  is  done 
in  a  somewhat  scattering  way.  He  has  customers  in  various 
parts  of  the  town  and  does  not  concentrate  on  any  particular 
section.  The  head  of  the  firm  does  not,  except  to  a  very 
slight  degree,  lay  out  his  movements. 

Let  us  see  if  we  cannot  apply  the  principles  of  Scientific 
Sales  Management  to  this  salesman.  We  will  proceed  along 
the  same  lines  as  have  been  mentioned  in  other  chapters. 
For  one  thing  wc  will  employ  a  central  planning  department. 
In  other  words,  we  will  divide  the  responsibihty  of  securing 
the  business  more  evenly  between  the  salesmen  and  the 
management.  The  superintendent,  who  is  in  all  probability 
the  head  of  the  concern,  will  arrange  to  have  a  list  made  of 
all  the  possible  buyers  of  his  goods  in  certain  communities. 
The  use  of  the  tax  list  or  voters'  list  is  a  good  basis  for 
compiling  neighborhood  lists. 


192  SCIENTIFIC  SALES   MANAGEMENT 

This  list  sliould  be  made  up  geographically  so  that  the 
names  of  people  li\ing  together  will  be  grouped.  Let  us 
assume  that  he  succeeds  in  making  up  a  list  of  two  thou- 
sand people  who  are  possible  buyers  of  liis  goods.  Let 
him  have  a  sufBcient  number  of  boys  or  salesmen  to 
cover  these  two  thousand  people. 

To  carry  out  the  idea  of  specializing,  or,  as  is  used  in 
Scientific  Management,  to  give  the  workmen  the  services 
of  a  functional  foreman,  it  might  be  well  to  have  one  man 
whose  sole  duty  is  to  call  on  new  people.  He  would  be  the 
specialist.  After  he  has  started  an  account,  then  a  regular 
salesman  could  call. 

Now,  instead  of  sending  out  the  salesman  at  the  begin- 
ning, expecting  them  to  do  all  the  missionary  work,  suppose 
the  proprietor  makes  up  from  three  to  six  letters,  or  two 
letters  and  four  maiHng  pieces.  The  first  letter  goes  out  as 
a  sort  of  an  introduction  asking  for  permission  to  have  a 
man  call,  or  soliciting  an  order,  etc.  Then  perhaps  four 
folders  go  out  telling  about  the  dififerent  things  carried  by 
the  merchant,  in  some  cases  giving  definite  prices.  Finally 
a  sixth  piece,  which  will  consist  of  a  letter,  goes  out,  en- 
closing a  post  card  and  asking  readers  to  reply  whether  or 
not  there  is  any  chance  of  their  being  interested,  whether 
they  care  to  continue  receiving  the  mail  pieces,  etc. 

Of  course  these  mail  pieces  must  say  something  or  they 
will  not  be  read.  A  retail  merchant  can  tell  some  very 
interesting  things  about  his  business.  He  should  talk 
naturally.  He  should  give  the  news  of  his  store.  In  my 
own  town  one  of  the  most  interesting  things  that  go  through 
the  mails  is  a  bulletin  issued  by  a  retail  grocer.  Practically 
everybody  reads  everything  that  this  man  prints. 

In  the  meantime,  inquiries  have  come  in.  Perhaps  only 
twenty  came  in  from  the  first  piece  —  perhaps  one  hundred 
came  in.     These  inquiries  should  be  turned  over  to   the 


APPLIED   TO  THE   RETAIL   BUSINESS       193 

salesmen.  The  salesmen  will  call  on  these  prospects  and 
endeavor  to  turn  them  into  regular  customers. 

The  merchant  generally  thinks,  when  considering  a  plan 
of  tliis  sort,  that  he  cannot  afford  to  do  it,  but  let  us  consider 
the  expense  and  the  probable  income,  applying  the  problem 
in  this  case  to  a  retail  grocer.  Suppose  the  retail  grocer 
mails  out  six  pieces  of  this  sort.  This  will  cost  him  25  cents 
per  name,  or  for  one  hundred  people,  $25.  What  would 
be  the  amount  of  groceries  and  meat  bought  by  an  average 
family?  Surely  $7  per  week  is  not  too  high,  in  which  case 
it  means  that  an  average  customer  secured  would  buy  $350 
worth  in  a  year.  The  grocer's  profits  are  about  twenty  per 
cent  on  an  average  customer.  Therefore,  on  an  average 
customer  he  would  make  $70. 

If  these  figures  are  approximately  correct,  the  grocer 
would  secure  his  publicity  and  salesmen  co-operation  for 
nothing  if  he  secured  an  average  customer  out  of  every  three 
hundred  people  to  whom  he  mailed  these  pieces. 

Out  of  the  two  thousand  names  he  would  have  to 
secure  about  seven  regular  customers  to  pay  for  his  adver- 
tising. Assuming  that  he  secured  these,  he  would  have 
the  advantage  of  the  inquiries  which  were  left  over,  these 
ha\'ing  cost  him  nothing.  In  addition  he  would  have  the 
advantage  of  having  gone  to  two  thousand  people  six  times 
without  cost. 

It  is  with  this  latter  class  that  we  now  have  to  deal.  He 
should  instruct  his  best  canvasser  to  call  on  these  people, 
hand  him  the  mailing  list  which  is  arranged  geographically, 
and  see  to  it  that  this  man  makes  a  call  on  every  one  of  these 
people  within  a  few  weeks  after  the  mailing  work  has  stopped. 

The  retail  merchant  ought,  in  my  opinion,  to  have  a  check 
on  every  possible  purchaser  of  his  goods.  He  should  have  a 
card  index  with  the  name  and  address  of  every  possibility. 
He  should  from  time  to  time  look  these  cards  over  and  insist 


194  SCIENTIFIC   SALES  MANAGEMENT 

on  knowing  from  his  men  why  certain  people  are  not  buying 
from  liim. 

So  far  I  have  appHed  the  principles  of  Scientific  Manage- 
ment only  to  the  matter  of  securing  new  customers. 

There  is  another  phase  to  the  question  which  is  equally 
if  not  more  important.  Why  shouldn't  the  retail  merchant 
send  his  message  at  least  twelve  times  per  year  to  two  thou- 
sand or  more  people  in  his  community?  With  some  of  them 
he  may  be  doing  business.  With  others  he  may  not  be 
doing  business,  but  possibly  one  of  his  men  calls  on  them 
regularly.  Why  not  try  to  increase  the  business  done  with 
his  present  customers?  Why  not  try  to  sell  some  of  the 
things  that  provide  good  profits? 

Suppose  he  decides  to  spend  fifty  cents  per  year  on  each 
such  possibility  in  his  territory.  Then  he  is  carrying  exactly 
the  message  which  he  wants  to  carry.  He  delivers  the  mes- 
sage about  the  things  on  which  he  wants  to  deliver  a  message. 
He  knows  that  if  he  wishes  to  push  a  certain  brand  of  tea, 
he  is  at  least  certain  to  bring  it  to  the  attention  of  his  field. 
Under  the  old  system,  by  which  he  depended  exclusively  on 
salesmen  to  carry  his  message,  he  was  not  sure  of  this.  He 
also  knows  that  his  message  goes  to  those  to  whom  he  wanted 
it  to  go.  Under  the  old  system  he  was  never  sure  that  all 
the  calls  which  he  required  were  being  made. 

Furthermore,  an  important  thing  is  that  he  increases  the 
efficiency  of  his  salesmen.  These  men  are  being  made 
closers  and  not  missionaries.  He,  the  merchant,  or  rather 
the  head  of  the  planning  department,  is  constantly  bringing 
to  the  attention  of  the  reader  the  merits  of  the  store,  the 
good  quality  of  the  goods  sold,  the  prices  of  certain  goods  — 
leaving,  for  the  most  part,  to  the  salesman  the  task  of  taking 
orders. 

A  retailer  who  has  a  field  of  about  two  thousand  names 
might  consider  the  advisability  of  issuing  a  small  newspaper 


C  ri  <VANEf^"C 


^'  ^^ 


-■_»5^My»|te^^. 


w^ 


PLIMPTON'S 
BUSINESS  BUILDER 


€^ 


^\ 


^=^, 


HIIMXS 


■■■■/  gi¥ 


/^i 


FREEMAN'S 
BUDGET 


rhc  1-it'th  Wheel  r  / 


Trying  To  Ik.    1  o>.  Much  CourlMy     A  Tr.idi-  Pullei 


ILLUSTRATIONS    OF    HOUSE    ORGANS    ISSUED    BY 
RETAIL   MERCHANTS 


APPLIED   TO  THE   RETAIL   BUSINESS       195 

or  magazine.  Nothing  in  advertising  which  he  could  do  would 
serve  to  create  better  feehng  toward  his  business  on  the  part 
of  his  customers.  A  retail  stationer  and  ofi5ce  outfitter  three 
years  ago  started  a  monthly  paper.  This  was  only  a  four  sheet 
one  color  affair,  but  during  the  three  years  that  he  has  issued 
it  he  has  seen  many  e\ddences  of  tangible  results.  Several 
others  in  the  same  line  of  business  have  issued  house  organs 
similar  in  size  and  shape  to  the  small  magazines  Hke  The 
Philistine.  On  the  opposite  insert  are  shown  a  few  examples 
of  this  sort  of  papers. 


Handling  the  United  States  by 
T'erritories  or  Zjones 


Chapter  XXIII 

Handling   the    United  States  by 
Territories  or  Zjones 

MANY  of  the  most  successful  large  concerns  in  this 
country  divide  the  United  States  into  territories 
or  zones.  They  handle  each  zone  as  a  unit.  A 
division  superintendent  or  manager  is  at  the  head  of  each 
territory.  Under  him  are  local  managers  with  their  various 
forces  of  local  salesmen.  This  is  a  very  useful  and  economical 
way  to  carry  on  sales  over  a  large  area.  As  a  guide  to  any 
who  may  be  interested  in  considering  the  value  of  this  work, 
I  give  below  the  division  of  the  territory  into  twenty-four 
zones  as  used  by  a  most  successful  concern. 

Superintendents'  Headquarters,  Toledo,  Ohio 
Branch  Houses 
Akron,  Ohio  Oil  City,  Pa. 

Canton,  Ohio  Parkersburg,  Pa. 

Cincinnati,  Ohio  Sandusky,  Ohio 

Cleveland,  Ohio  South  Bend,  Ind. 

Columbus,  Ohio  Toledo,  Ohio 

Erie,  Pa.  Zanesville,  Ohio 

Jackson,  Mich.  Detroit,  Mich. 

Kalamazoo,  Mich. 

Main  Office,  Chicago,  III. 

Handling  direct  from  main  office,  Los  Angeles,  Milwaukee,  Racine, 
San  Francisco,  Seallle,  and  Tacoma.  These  offices  report  direct  to  the 
home  office. 


200         SCIENTIFIC  SALES  MANAGEMENT 


superintentjents'  headquarters,  denver,  colo. 
Branch  Houses 


Billings,  Mont. 
Boise,  Idaho 
Butte,  Mont. 
Colorado  Springs,  Colo. 
Deadwood,  S.  D. 
Denver,  Colo. 
El  Paso,  Tex. 


Great  Falls,  Mont. 
Phcenix,  Ariz. 
Portland,  Ore. 
Pueblo,  Colo. 
Salt  Lake  City,  Utah 
Spokane,  Wash. 
Trinidad,  Colo. 


Superintendents'  Headquarters,  Portlai^,  IVIe. 
Branch  Houses 


Bangor,  Me. 
Biddeford,  Me. 
Calais,  Me. 
Fitchburg,  Mass. 
Gardiner,  Mass. 


Lewiston,  Me. 
Lowell,  Mass. 
Portland,  Me. 
Waterville,  Me. 
Woodsville,  N.  H. 


Superintendents'  Headquarters,  Memphis,  Tenn, 


Branch  Houses 


Alexandria,  La. 
Baton  Rouge,  La. 
Cairo,  Mo. 
Clarksdale,  Mo. 
El  Dorado,  Ark. 
Greenville,  Tenn. 
Greenwood,  Tenn. 
Hattiesburg,  Miss. 
Helena,  Mont. 
Hot  Springs,  Ark. 
Jackson,  Miss. 
Jackson,  Tenn. 


Lake  Pro\adence,  La. 
Little  Rock,  Ark. 
Memphis,  Tenn. 
Meridian,  Miss. 
Monroe,  Mich.        " 
Natchez,  Miss. 
New  Orleans,  La. 
Paducah,  Ky. 
Pine  Bluff,  Ark. 
Vicksburg,  Miss. 
Yazoo  City,  Miss. 
Nashville,  Tenn. 


Superintendents'  Headquarters,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Branch  Houses  from  main  office  operating  in  territory  adjacent  to 
St.  Louis 


TERRITORIES  OR  ZONES  201 

Superintendents'  Headquarters,  Richmond,  Va. 

Branch  Houses 
Asheville,  N.  C.  Newport  News,  Va. 

Charlotte,  N.  C.  Norfolk,  Va. 

Greensboro,  N.  C.  Wilmington,  N.  C. 

Lynchburg,  Va. 

StrPERINTENDENTS'   HEADQUARTERS,   PeORIA,   IlL. 

Branch  Houses 

Aurora,  111.  Johet,  111. 

Bloomington,  111.  La  Salle,  111. 

Cedar  Rapids,  111.  Lexington,  Ky. 

Danville,  111.  Marion,  Ind. 

Davenport,  HI.  Muncie,  Ind. 

Decatur,  111.  Peoria,  111. 

Dubuque,  la.  Quincy,  111. 

Freeport,  III.  St.  Joseph,  Mo. 

Galesburg,  111.  Streator,  111. 

Superintendents'  Headquarters,  Jacksonville,  Fla. 

Branch  Houses 
Havana,  Cuba  Tampa,  Fla. 

Jacksonville,  Fla.  Valdosta,  Ga. 

Key  West,  Fla. 

Superintendents'  Headquarters,  Bristol,  Tenn. 

Branch  Houses 
Bristol,  Tenn.  Northfork,  Ky. 

Charleston,  W.  Va.  Norton,  Va. 

Huntington,  W.  Va.  Thurmond,  W.  Va. 

Knoxville,  Tenn. 

Siiperintendents'  Headquarters,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Branch  Houses 
Alexandria,  Va.  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Baltimore,  Md.  Washington,  D.  C. 

Chester,  Pa.  Wilmington,  Del. 


202 


SCIENTIFIC  SALES  MANAGEMENT 


Superintendents'  Headquarters,  Albany,  N.  Y. 


Branch  Houses 


Albany,  N.  Y. 
Amsterdam,  N.  Y. 
Auburn,  N.  Y. 
Cohoes,  N.  Y. 
Faust,  N.  Y. 
Glens  Falls,  N.  Y. 
Gloversville,  N.  Y. 
Little  Falls,  N.  Y. 
Malone,  N.  Y. 
North  Adams,  Mass. 


Ogdensburg,  N.  Y. 
Oswego,  N.  Y. 
Plattsburg,  N.  Y. 
Rome,  N.  Y. 
Saratoga,  N.  Y. 
Syracuse,  N.  Y. 
Utica,  N.  Y. 
Watertown,  N.  Y. 
Troy,  N.  Y. 


Superintendents'  Headquarters,  New  York  Office 


Branch  Houses 


Elizabeth,  N.  J. 
Hackensack,  N.  J. 
Kingston,  N.  Y. 
Long  Branch,  L.  I. 
Middletown,  N.  Y. 
Mt.  HoUy,  N.  Y. 
Mt.  Vernon,  N.  Y. 
New  Brunswick,  N.  J. 
Newburgh,  N.  Y. 
Norwalk,  Conn. 
Ossining,  N.  Y. 

New  York  Office  No. 
Also  Newark,  Jersey 


Paterson,  N.  J. 
PeekskiU,  N.  Y. 
Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y. 
Stamford,  Conn. 
Tarry  town,  N.  Y. 
Trenton,  N.  J. 
Yonkers,  N.  Y. 
Bridgeport,  Conn. 
Burlington,  N.  J. 
Plainfield,  N.  J. 

2.     Operating  New  York  sales  office 
City,  atid  East  Orange,  N.  J. 


Superintendents'  Headquarters,  Minneapolis,  Minn. 
Branch  Houses 


Ashland,  Minn. 
Duluth,  Minn. 
Escanaba,  Minn. 


Fargo,  N.  D. 
Grand  Forks,  N.  D. 
Lron  Wood,  Minn. 


TERRITORIES   OR  ZONES  203 

Marquette,  Minn.  Minneapolis,  Minn. 

Merrill,  Minn.  St.  Paul,  Minn. 


SXJPERINTENDENTS'  HEADQUARTERS,  WlLKES  BaREE,   Pa. 

Branch  Houses 

Batavia,  N.  Y.  Nanticoke,  N.  Y. 

Binghamton,  N.  Y.  Olean,  N.  Y. 

Buffalo,  N.  Y.  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

Elrnira,  N.  Y.  Scranton,  Pa. 

Freeland,  N.  Y.  Shenandoah,  Pa. 

Geneva,  N.  Y.  Wilkes  Barre,  Pa. 

Lockport,  N.  Y.  Hazelton  Pa. 

Superintendents'  Headquarters,  Allegheny,  Pa. 
Branch  Houses 

Allegheny,  Pa.  Pittsburg,  Pa. 

Altoona,  Pa.  Steubenville,  Ohio 

Beaver  Falls,  Pa.  Uniontovm,  Pa. 

East  Liverpool,  Ohio  Washington,  Pa. 

Grafton,  Pa.  Youngstown,  Ohio 

Johnstown,  Pa.  Dubois,  Pa. 

New  Castle,  Pa.  Punxsuta\vney,  Pa. 

Piedmont,  W.  Va.  Ridgway,  Pa. 


Superintendents'  Headquarters,  Atlanta,  Ga. 
Branch  Houses 

Albany,  Ga.  Columbus,  Ga. 

Anniston,  Ala.  Cordele,  Ga. 

Atlanta,  Ga.  Huntsville,  Ala. 

Augusta,  Ga.  Macon,  Ga. 

Bessemer,  Ala.  Mobile,  Ala. 

Birmingham,  Ala.  Montgomery,  Ala. 

Charleston,  S.  C.  Pensacola,  Fla. 

Chattanooga,  Tenn.  Savannah,  Ga. 

Columbia,  Ala.  Selma,  Ala. 


204 


SCIENTIFIC   SALES   MANAGEMENT 


Superintendents'  Headquarters,  Boston,  Mass. 


Branch  Houses 


Boston,  Mass. 
Derby,  Conn. 
Fall  River,  Mass . 
Hartford,  Conn. 
Holyoke,  Mass. 
Lynn,  Mass. 
Marlboro,  Mass. 
Meriden,  Conn. 
Milford,  Mass. 
New  Bedford,  Mass. 
New  Britain,  Conn. 
New  Haven,  Conn. 
Newport,  R.  I. 
Northampton,  Mass. 


Norwich,  Conn. 
Palmer,  Mass. 
Pawtucket,  R.  I. 
Plymouth,  Mass. 
Providence,  R.  I. 
Rockville,  Conn. 
S.  Framingham,  Mass. 
Springfield,  IMass. 
Waltham,  ]SIass. 
Waterbm-y,  Conn. 
Westboro,  Mass. 
Westerly,  R.  I. 
Wobum,  Mass. 
Worcester,  Mass. 


StiTPERINTENDENTS'   HEADQUARTERS,   Ft.   WoRTH,   TeXAS 


CD 

AmaCUb,  Tex. 
Austiji-J  Tex. 
Beaumont,  Tex. 
Corsicana,  Tex. 
Dallas,  Tex. 
Ft.  Smith,  Tex. 
Galveston,  Tex. 
Guthrie,  Okla. 
Houston,  Tex. 
Lake  Charles,  La. 


Branch  Houses 


McAlester,  Okla. 
Muskogee,  Okla. 
Oklahoma  City,  Okla. 
Paris,  Tex. 
San  Antonio,  Tex. 
Sherman,  Tex. 
Shreveport,  La. 
Stamford,  Tex. 
Texarkana,  Tex. 
Waco,  Tex. 


Superintendents'  Headquarters,  Omaha,  Neb. 

Branch  Houses 

Des  Moines,  la.  Lincoln,  Neb.  Omaha,  Neb. 


■)i 


;jivsoi^     IJiSjflAiNniW^^ 


>^OFCALIF0% 


^<?AHViiaiH^ 


_^QFCAIIP0R|5>^ 


yo/:, 


li  IL^ 


i.i 


^WEUNIVERS/^        oslOSANCFlfj> 


^      c? 


■^/iHaAINflJV^ 


,^MEUNIVERS//i 


^IDSANCEl^^ 


■MSOl^       %jaAINft-3V^^ 


1# 


0/^  ^lU 


y 


^A 


— 0/?^      ^OFCAIIFOI?^ 


n  S 


5 


LllT 


33 


'^JJUDflVSai'^      %JUAIHfl-3tf^^ 


ivaaiw^ 


^5JAEUNIVER% 


^wsMEier^ 


f 


^lOSANCElfx^        ^OFCAIIFO/?^      ^OPCAlIFOftj^, 


university  Ot  California,  LOS  Ang^^^^^^ 


007  450  811   0 


^lllBRARYQ<- 


o 


^  1  ir"  ^  S 


<J3U3KVS01^ 


AA    001016  090 


^lOSANCElfx^ 


"^/5MAJNI10 


^IUBRARY(3^       ^t-UBRARYOr^ 


^^V\EUNfVER% 


^OFCAllFOMi^      ^OFCAlIFOff^ 


m\n^ 


'^J^UONVSOl^ 


.^WEUNIVERS/A 


■%iiiAjNn 


-<^IUBRARYQ<- 


^OFCAUFOJ?^ 


i?Aavaan-^'^^' 


avIOSANCE1^;>, 


I 


^^Wf■UNIVm!^. 


^ 


Or  '^ 

o 


-^tUBRAR' 


"^uaNysov^"^ 


<^1««UNIVER%. 


^•UBRARYO^ 


%UAINn-3\ft^ 


-55^t-UBRARY<7/. 


m-i^^    \oi\m- 


iHriiillr 

^53i\EUNIVFR%      ^IMCE 


